Gillingham manager John Coleman accepts he’s in the firing line after another disappointing result for his team on Tuesday night.
Coleman was buzzing last weekend after winning his first game since taking charge but was left facing criticism again following a 3-1 loss at Newport County on Tuesday night.
The Gills are back down to 19th in the table, with a nine-point gap to the relegation zone after the midweek loss.
“We’re not out of the danger zone yet,” Coleman admitted.
“We’ve got a lot of hard work to do between now and the end of the season.
“We’ll do it for our own sanity and for our own fans. That’s the first and foremost thing, doing it for the fans.
“You can’t please everybody. Some of the fans will be pleased with the effort. Some will be really disappointed with the results. Some will be really disappointed that I didn’t make a substitution.
“Unfortunately, as a manager, you bear the brunt of it and you’ve got to accept that. I do. I’ll never shy away from that.
“Unfortunately, we’re in a society where it’s very much a blame culture. You have to blame someone. I’m the perfect man to blame because in my head I’m the one who’s highest above the parapet.”
Gillingham’s scoring problems aren’t going away. They beat Morecambe 1-0 last weekend and should have won by more, and had more shots on target than Newport.
Coleman said: “We’ve just not been taking our chances at the moment. It’s frustrating for me.
“I can’t ever remember a run of games with such a poor return of goals and we’ve got players out there who can score goals.
“We did [create] but it counts for nothing if you get beat. We’ve got to keep working hard and we’ve got to find a way to win.”
Gillingham welcome in-form Bradford City to Priestfield this Saturday.
The Bantams have been on a great run since Christmas. They’ve only lost one of their last 15 league games, winning their last four and sit second in the table ahead of their trip to Kent.
Former Gills midfielder George Lapslie – who joined them at the end of December – scored twice in a 3-0 win over Cheltenham on Tuesday night in his first start for the club.
In contrast to Bradford, the Gills have one win in 15. Last weekend’s victory over Morecambe had lifted some of the gloom around the club and Coleman will be hoping for more of the same.
“Hopefully we can get that kind of atmosphere again,” he said.
“It’ll be a tough game against Bradford but every game we play is going to be tough.
“We know we’re capable if we play to our strengths. [On Tuesday] we didn’t. We more or less beat ourselves but that’s football for you.
“We’ve got to change that and we’ve got an opportunity to change it on Saturday.”
