Gillingham midfielder Ethan Coleman says it’s important that they’re in and around the play-off picture heading into the festive season.
The Gills sit sixth in League 2 with two more matches ahead of their Christmas fixtures.
In the last two years, they’ve been just outside the play-off places at this stage of the season and while they flirted with the top seven in 2023/24, last term they were never able to make the ground up.
“Of course, you want to be in and around it, especially coming into the Christmas period where there’s going to be a lot of games coming up thick and fast,” said Coleman.
“Once we get a run of wins that we really want as a team, then we should be in and around it.
“We really want to push on now. This is the time of year to push on and put a run together. We haven’t lost for five on the bounce now, so we’re putting a run together – we just want a few wins on top of that.”
The Gills will be keen to cement their position among the promotion challengers at home to Barrow this Saturday.
After drawing their last two away games, Coleman feels it’s important they pick up maximum points back at Priestfield.
“We want to get three points and win at home next week,” he added. “We want to win our home games and draw our away games.
“That’s the idea, and if we do that (against Barrow) then this is a fantastic point (against Colchester).”
The goalless stalemate at Colchester last weekend was in stark contrast to the 3-3 draw with Shrewsbury seven days earlier.
Defensively, the Gills were a lot tighter against fellow play-off hopefuls Colchester, something Coleman was particularly pleased about.
“You can come back in and your defenders are happier,” reflected Coleman. “Me, as a holding midfielder, I am more than happy.
“You come away with it being a bit more positive (than last week) – no goals conceded and we’ve just got to do a bit better at the other end.
“I think it was a really positive performance. We were on top of them, especially in the second half. We came out of the blocks well and we had many chances, many shots on goal and a positive performance.
“They’re in a good run of form and I think we’ve done well, especially being away from home.
“I think they had a couple of chances. They had a good one in the first half, but I think apart from that, they didn’t have much.
“We had loads of shots in the second half, dominated them and had one cleared off the line in the first half as well, which was a very good opportunity.”
Coleman also praised on-loan Watford defender Travis Akomeah for an impressive first league start for the Gills.
“He did really well,” stated Coleman, “Dominant in the air, strong lad, talks well on the pitch, which is something that you don’t usually get from a young boy – I’m pleased for him.
“We’ve got a strong squad, people that can come in and do well, like Travis did on Saturday.”
