Gillingham face two away games in four days that could make or break their play-off ambitions.
The Gills head to Crewe on Saturday before a Tuesday night trip to Chesterfield – two teams that stand between themselves and the play-off places.
Gillingham head into the weekend with an eight point gap to the top seven, and at least one game in hand over most of the sides above them .
Manager Gareth Ainsworth is keeping the pressure off his players, with 17 games left this term and a two-year plan for success, but a decent points haul from the next two games would give his side real hope of achieving something this season.
Looking ahead to playing Crewe, Ainsworth said: “Both teams probably have similar ambitions.
“We’re both looking to see how far we can progress with the play-offs just above us. We’re slightly further away than Crewe, but they’ve played a couple more games than us.
“We’ve got to make sure that we go up there with the belief that we can win the game, because we want to get as close as we can to these play-offs.”
Crewe are two points off the top seven and a point and a place behind Chesterfield.
League 2 table;
For Gills boss Ainsworth, it’s about constant progression and he believes he’s getting there.
“It’s definitely a different season to last year,” he said.
“We’re getting towards the total when I walked in [last season] with nine games to go and we’ve done that in plenty of time.
“It’s just how much more we can do between now and then.
“We’ve got a tough couple of games coming up, Crewe and Chesterfield away from home. They’re the same ambitions as us. They want to get in these play-offs. They want to try and progress out of League Two.
“[Crewe] are a very good side with an identity that is well played by their manager. We’ve got to make sure that we believe we can win and take something away from there.”
Ainsworth says he’s keeping grounded with talk centred on a play-off push.
He said: “[There is a] long way to go. I said to the boys and I’ll say it to everyone, we’re not going to win every game, right? I’ve said this all along. There will be hiccups. There will be defeats. It’s how we react to them.
“We go into every game believing we can beat the team in front of us. I watched Swindon (on Wednesday) night on the TV and I believe that we can beat them. They’re in second place.
“I’m really excited for the next games but I’m also keeping myself grounded, making sure we don’t get carried away.
“We’re still a build in progress. It’s the mental side now. We’re coming into the business end of the season and it’s exciting.”
