Robbie McKenzie believes Gillingham can take plenty of encouragement from Tuesday’s defeat at Notts County as they prepare for a very different challenge this weekend.
County went second in League 2 after a 1-0 win over the Gills – a fifth straight win for them. This Saturday Gillingham welcome a Tranmere side who have lost their last five.
McKenzie expects their weekend visitors to pose a different kind of test to the one they just faced.
“I think it’s going to be a bit more physical, a bit more direct,” he said.
“I don’t think they’re going to try and pass the ball like [Notts County] do but we’ll be prepared for it.
“We just need to be brave in how we’re playing and trust what we’re doing.
“We’re obviously going to learn from our mistakes [on Tuesday] and we’re going to try and put them right. We’ll go into Saturday with a positive mindset.
“We’re coming into the business end of the season, so we need to start picking up results.”
With the campaign moving towards its decisive phase, McKenzie believes the Gills can still challenge at the top end.
He said: “It’s still just over half of the season gone.
“[We’ve made] positive additions. I feel like they’ve fit into the group well, so it can only send us in good stead.”
McKenzie felt their midweek performance showed signs of progress despite a costly mistake which led to County’s winner.
“We’ve played well. We’ve conceded a sloppy goal on our part, which we know and we’ve worked hard on that sort of thing,” he said.
“We’re making chances and we’re putting teams under pressure, which is what we want to do. It’s only going to stand us in good stead going forward.
“It’s a tough one to take, really, because I feel like the performances are getting there, apart from the first half [against Bromley last week], but in the second half, the performance was there. [On Tuesday] the performance was there. We just need to get the result across the line.”
McKenzie felt Gillingham more than matched their midweek hosts, who are known for dominating possession at Meadow Lane.
“Teams come here and get absolutely dominated and I feel like we imposed ourselves on them, which is positive. It’s only something we can build on,” he said.
“One mistake led to their goal. That’s football at the end of the day, though. You will get punished for your mistakes. It just wasn’t our day. We had the chances to get something from the game, but we weren’t able to take it.
“I think we were just a bit braver in our press going forward. It was a braver performance, [we were] going after them, which not a lot of teams do there. It was good.”
McKenzie also praised the impact of new arrivals, including Omar Beckles and forward Ronan Hale.
He said: “It’s nice to see Omar at the back, a big, commanding leader. It’s always nice to have him behind you and knowing he’s talking and leading from the back.
“He’s a leader, so I think it can only do us well in the long run. I think that’s what you miss sometimes, is the experienced leader when things are a bit frantic, calm things down and talk to everyone.”
Newly-arrived striker Hale has also impressed.
McKenzie said: “Ronan Hale’s come in and he’s making chances and they’re only going to go in at some point.
“He’s a bright spark and sometimes that’s all you need in the team, is one little moment or something that he does, which is going to be positive for us.”
McKenzie also thanked the 400-odd travelling supporters who made the midweek trip north.
He said: “We appreciate them travelling up on a Tuesday night, as cold as it was, and sitting there and watching us.
“Hopefully we can start putting in the performances and getting the results that they deserve.”
