Gillingham manager Gareth Ainsworth insists his side will be “full throttle” as they look to end their away campaign on a high.
While the Gills have nothing to play for other than professional pride, Barnet are still hanging on to the hope of winning a place in the play-offs.
A second-half collapse last weekend led to a heavy home defeat for the Gills, and Ainsworth will only pick the players he feels are still giving their all.
He said: “You get to this stage of the season and some players will maybe take the foot off the gas. I’ve got to make sure that none of those players are in the team.
“I’ve got to make sure that everyone is full throttle, all for Gillingham on Saturday, not just our fans, but it’s the other teams around us.
“You don’t want to be rolling over and conceding and letting teams beat you.
“We’ve got to put a performance in. I know the team I pick will be able to do that, and we’ll definitely be able to win a game.
“There’ll be no coming off the gas. If anyone wants to do that, then I expect they’ll come and see me in the and say, ‘Look, I can’t give 100% in these next couple of games’, and I’ll leave them out. They need to give 100%.
“The word professional comes into it. Everyone won’t be here next year, and some will be playing for contracts elsewhere. Some will be playing for contracts here.
“You do yourself no favours in football by not giving everything, and I know that from experience. Hopefully, everyone will know that I demand everything from everyone.”
Weekend hosts Barnet are seven unbeaten, with five wins in that run. They need to win their last two games to keep alive their hopes of a top-seven finish, and even that might not be enough.
“They’ve been one of the surprise teams in the league,” said the Gills boss.
“I wish it was us (chasing promotion). I really wish it was us. We’ve been short in a few games. I think some of the players in the squad are short at the level.
“I’ll take some blame as well. I probably made a couple of errors in picking what team or what formation. We have to be better next year, and I understand that.
“Barnet are the team that have changed the most out of any team with their formations. They’ve got multi-positional players, which is really key at this level.
“[Manager] Dean Brennan has done a fantastic job, I’ve got to give him loads of respect after making the step up from non-league into the league. He’s done a really good job. He’s got some cracking players.
“They’re going for something. We had that against Grimsby last week, we’ve had it against Walsall a few weeks ago. We know now that every team we play is often playing for something. But so are we, we’re playing for pride.
“I want the last away performance of the season to be a good one. We finished with Port Vale last year and that was a really good performance.
“I’m expecting that we can put in a good shift and then finish at home next week.”
The Gills will be heading to north London with a big away support this weekend.
Ainsworth said: “There’s a lot of fans going and they’re all going to wear crazy shirts, I’ve been told. That’ll be interesting.
“I can’t join them, I’ll have to be a boring, same old me. I’ve got some real crazy shirts, believe me. But no, no chance [of wearing one]. I haven’t got enough credit in the bag to start messing about wearing silly shirts.
“If we’re in Barnet’s position next year, then maybe I’ll do it.”
Ainsworth’s side are looking to bounce back from last week’s 4-1 loss against Grimsby Town.
He said: “Everyone goes away thinking about those last 15 minutes, how bad we were, when actually we had a really good 75 minutes. We were more than a match for Grimsby but I guess that’s why they are where they are.
“Their boys stepped up for the last 15 minutes, knew how to win a game. Some proper men in that team, characters. That’s what we need to recruit and to get in here.”
Ainsworth said that defender Andy Smith “will hopefully be back in contention” after missing last week with a broken nose.
Midfielder Robbie McKenzie also missed the Grimsby game with a knock but was picked for media duty this week, suggesting he’s good for a return.
