Gillingham have failed to match last season’s modest return but their manager is determined to finish a disappointing campaign on a high.
Boss Gareth Ainsworth wanted to better last season’s points tally, giving the players a target to aim for after missing out on challenging for a promotion spot.
The Gills finished 17th last season on 58 points. Ainsworth enjoyed a good end to the previous campaign, after taking over with nine games to go and staying unbeaten, but his first full season hasn’t gone well.
They head to play-off outsiders Barnet this Saturday – their penultimate game of a forgettable campaign – with 50 points and sitting 18th in the League Two table.
Ainsworth said: “I want six points from both games, I want to finish on a high like we did last season.
“There are fans who have paid a lot of money, fans who want to come back next year and say, ‘Right, here we go again’. Let’s give them something to be excited about.”
Having fallen short of last season’s points total, Ainsworth said: “Really frustrating. For me, I’m not going to say we’ve gone backwards. I think there’s been a lot of incidents. I think the injuries have really hurt us this year.
“Obviously, me being out [following heart surgery] for a while as well. The whole season’s been a bit messy and I think that we can put it down to a little bit of that, but also on the pitch, we’ve got to step up and be better.
“But [there are] positives like Louie Dayal and Michael Luxton getting their [Football League] debut and Harry Waldock’s played a good amount of games now for us. These are real positives for me in the future.
“It’s looking good on that side, but we’re not going to be able to rely on these kids coming through and that’s not the same next year.
“We’re going to have to get better experience around them and hopefully be a different animal next year because I know as a football manager that you can’t have too many days like [last Saturday].”
The Gills lost 4-1 last weekend at home to Grimsby Town – defeat number 18 of a poor campaign.
“We’ll get this right,” insisted the Gills boss.
“The club has been like this for so long and I came in and probably got carried away with the unbeaten run and everyone had to up their levels.
“That’s great, but I think there’s a distinct change that needs to happen here and that’s going to happen in the summer. Definitely, the personnel, just for the sake of changing at times. A fresh start. I can’t wait.
“I feel for the fans. I’m hurting. Of course, I’m hurting. I don’t like being beat by four [goals]. The players are certainly hurting as well.
“The fans aren’t happy. I understand that. We’ve got to be so much better next year than we are and that will take personnel changes, I think. I’ll be having a busy summer doing that.
“We’re not good enough. We’ve got to change it. It’s nothing new for Gillingham. I’m hopefully the one who gets it right next season when I can clear out what I want to clear out, keep what I want to keep, and we’ll start the season well, I’m sure.”
