Gillingham manager Gareth Ainsworth has set his team a points target as they look to finish the season on a positive note.
With early promotion hopes gone, the Gills are aiming to build momentum in the final weeks of the campaign and climb away from the lower reaches of League Two.
Ainsworth is just over a year into the job, having guided the side to a 17th-place finish last season with 58 points. Improving on that total remains a key objective.
The Gills boss has outlined a clear target for his players and believes reaching it would represent progress.
“I’ve set a target of trying to beat what we got last year,” he said, following a 2-0 defeat at Crawley last Saturday.
While the Gills still have ground to make up, Ainsworth remains focused on finishing strongly.
“I want to see improvement. I want to say, ‘Right, at least we got more this year than we did last year.’
“I want something to aim for. I want to go better than last season and if we do that, that’s progress.”
Speaking straight after last week’s loss, even Ainsworth wasn’t convinced they could achieve the target.
“Can we do that? At the moment, I’m thinking, ‘No, we can’t’,” Ainsworth admitted.
“I want to see improvement. I want to say, ‘Right, at least we got more this year than we did last year.
“Five defeats on the spin is something I’m not used to at all, not at League Two level.
“I want something to aim for. I want to go better than last season and if we don’t, I’ll be devastated.
“That’s my target. That’s what I want to get, at least equal it and if not, let’s beat it, but at the moment, it seems a country mile away.”
Speaking on Wednesday, the Gills boss was more upbeat about the situation.
He said: “We have set a target. Firstly, I want to get over 50 points, but second, I want to try and beat last year’s target.
“Even though it feels a little bit like a rubbish season, that would be a little bit of progress. That would be some glimmer of hope.
“I want to win some games. I want to try and beat that points total from last season. That’d be success. That’d be progress. If we don’t, I know why, but I don’t want to say if we don’t. I want to go, ‘Yes, we can do it. Let’s do it. Let’s get past that total’. That’d definitely be progress.”
Ainsworth has already shown what his side are capable of, leading them to a club-record 21-game unbeaten league run earlier in the campaign.
Now, with seven matches remaining, the focus is on ending the season with momentum.
Gillingham travel to Walsall on Friday before hosting Accrington on Easter Monday, with Ainsworth targeting a strong finish.
Ainsworth said: “At the moment, all [of the games are] tough. Crawley away was tough. We need to find this win from somewhere.
“We need to turn this around. It might be one of the tough games where we’re looking like we’re totally going to get battered because of what’s been going on, that we’ll turn it around in. It’s probably like us that.”
