Gillingham manager John Coleman is confident the hard work will pay off soon.
The Gills haven’t won in their last 12 games – the longest current run without a victory for any team in the EFL – but performances have been improving and Coleman is confident that a maiden win for him is just around the corner.
Coleman takes charge of his ninth game tonight (Tuesday) when they face Fleetwood Town. It’s a fixture that should have been his first – postponed in mid-January just days after he’d taken over as manager.
Coleman said: “It’s a tough game but hopefully we’ll get that win that’s eluded us for so long.
“I’m always confident. The fans have been brilliant and I hope they get behind us again like they did on Saturday.
“I want to deliver that win for them more than anything. I want the players to deliver that win.
“They keep on improving. We played very well first half (at Carlisle on Saturday). We lost our way in the last 15 minutes. The conditions played a part in that and I think we probably played better against the wind, if truth be known.
“We’re making more chances than what we have done. In the last two games, we’ve probably made more chances than the previous six. That’s a step in the right direction.”
Coleman switched to a wing-back formation after a 3-0 loss at Barrow and the side have drawn their last three since then.
The manager, speaking after another positive showing at Carlisle, said: “It’s a massive improvement from the Barrow game, away from home against a team who are fighting for their lives.
“We were desperate to win ourselves but it’s very important that you don’t get beat and you don’t let them gain any ground on you.
“We’ve got to keep going and if we keep working hard, I’m sure the win will come.
“There’s more and more signs of us passing the ball better, which is something that I think we definitely needed to improve on from the very first day I walked in. We’ll continue to work on that.
“We’re always asking for more. We’re never satisfied.
“We want to try and make a step up the league. We can only do that by winning.”
With back-to-back goalless draws, against Crewe and Carlisle, the Gills need to be finding the net.
Striker Elliott Nevitt has been favoured by Coleman. He hit one against the bar at the weekend and was denied a penalty, as his spell without a goal stretched to 19 games.
“He must have run over a black cat!” remarked the manager.
“That’s football. It’ll change. What he doesn’t do, he never lets his head drop.
“He works his socks off. He crawled off the pitch in the end (at Carlisle). That’s what we expect from all of them.”
Gillingham are 19th in League 2 and face a Fleetwood side who are six points better off but without a win in four, scoring just once in those past few outings.
Coleman made just one change to his side at the weekend, leaving both Jack Nolan and leading scorer Jayden Clarke as unused subs at Carlisle.
Bradley Dack came off the bench while Aaron Rowe wasn’t in the squad. There’s plenty of scope for changes should he feel the need.
