It’s a big month ahead for Gillingham as they look to get themselves back among the division’s leading sides.
The festive period wasn’t a productive one for Mark Bonner’s men as they dropped to 13th place in League 2 after back-to-back defeats at Colchester and Wimbledon.
While on the field they need some wins, off it they need to strengthen now that the January transfer window is open for new signings.
Gillingham host local rivals Bromley tonight (Thursday) and have ground to make up in the table.
Bonner said: “What we’ve got to make sure is that in the next three games we’ve got left, before we get to that 25-game point, I just want to be in the race.
“I want to get to the end of January when things have settled, and we know where the squad is, with 18 games to go going into February with a chance of chasing it with everybody else.
“It’s a massive month – a huge month for us. We’ll see who wants to come with us, who’s on the journey with us and who fancies the fight and fancies grinding it out and who can handle the criticism that we’re going to get, which is fine, and stick together and stick up for each other and deliver performances that give us a chance.”
Bonner’s men were booed off the pitch at Colchester following a lifeless 2-0 defeat on Boxing Day, but the team raised their levels at Wimbledon on Monday night where big decisions went against them.
However they also lacked a cutting edge up top in another defeat, losing 1-0.
The manager admits he couldn’t say he was pleased with a better performance after losing, but it was a much-needed improvement.
Bonner said: “It seems so rotten, doesn’t it? You can’t be happy losing the game. You can’t be happy going back-to-back and having your Christmas period look like that.
“The last few games before the Colchester game, we were on to something. It got us results. That was more like the level that got us results against Cheltenham, against MK Dons and so on.
“What we have to do is find that regularly. That’s more like a team that gives you a chance of doing it.
“If you can’t run hard and you can’t compete and you can’t be intense and you’re not fighting for a second ball and you’re not fighting – yes, mistakes are going to happen, people make bad decisions and whatever.
“If they make those mistakes for the right reasons, fine. If it’s a lack of effort and lack
of intensity we’ve got no time for you and nobody else should as well.
“So, find that level. That gives us a chance of getting results. If we get on to a result and can start stacking a couple together again, like we did at the start and like we did two weeks ago, we can change the picture of it quite quickly.”
The Gills head into the next round of fixtures six points off the play-off positions and just seven away from second place. It’s still all to play for.
Bonner said: “We’re probably quite a few points away from where we’d really like to be after the start that we’ve made.
“The league position at the moment doesn’t look nice and it’s definitely not where we want to be but it can change very quickly, but only if we
do it. It’s a very, very tight league. We need to stick at it, keep grinding things out. It will turn for us because we’ve got good players and we’ll keep adding and we’ll keep getting better.
“If we keep doing that and keep a belief and the togetherness inside the team and inside the group, then we can turn some results and that will get us closer to where we want to be.
“It’s a long, long season and I was asked before the game [on Monday] if we’re in the promotion race as well as Wimbledon. I just think everybody is.
“I think it will be that way for ages. It will only stop being that way if we start thinking it isn’t.
“We’ve got to get some better results quickly but there’s enough in that performance [on Monday] that I can say we will get some if we play more like that more often.”
