Manager Gareth Ainsworth will be working hard to restore confidence and competitiveness within his squad after the weekend debacle.
The Gills boss is getting to work on planning for this weekend’s trip to Barrow after analysing what went wrong in their 3-0 home loss to Oldham Athletic on Saturday.
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“I want to get this right here,” he said. “I want to make sure that when we go to Barrow, we are at least competitive – and then we’ve got that gloss to add to it.”
The manager did not hide from the scale of the disappointment against Oldham, admitting too many of his players fell short on the day but despite the setback, Ainsworth insisted belief remains in the dressing room.
“I back my boys. I will back my boys,” he said. “They know they weren’t good enough.
“After 32 games, there’s only one where we’ve been turned over at home in a bad way.
“Even [against] Bromley, we were clapped off because people knew we’d had a right go at them.
“[Saturday] was not good enough. That happens sometimes. It does. It’s football.
“We’ll make sure it doesn’t happen too often. I don’t want to see another one of them this season.”
The focus now turns to rebuilding confidence, particularly among some of the younger members of the squad who may not have experienced a spell like this before.
“Some of them get confidence back automatically – the experienced ones,” Ainsworth said.
“It’s probably some of the younger ones who’ve never been in this situation before that we have to look at and work with.”
Ainsworth made it clear the work this week will not just be physical.
“[It will be] constructive work,” he said. “You’re governed by loading and not killing your boys physically, but they can do plenty of video work, plenty of mental work, have a look at where they went wrong and start understanding – be confident. Get on that ball. You’re good players. Very good players.
“I didn’t see that coming. Not from this group. They’re better than that.
“It’s up to me to make sure they know that this week. I demand better – but I know my players and they’ll demand better from themselves. That’s the plus point we’ve got here.”
