Gillingham striker Vadaine Oliver is hoping he can help his side to three points against Charlton Athletic this weekend.

Oliver was Gillingham’s hero with the winner in the club’s FA Cup come from behind win over Woking, and the former Northampton man has been talking to the media this week ahead of the Gills return to SKYBet League One action – the “A2 derby” with Charlton Athletic at Priestfield.

Oliver admitted, “It’s always nice for a striker to score… it was a big performance against Crewe – we need that one massively and lifts us massively as we’d had a lot of performances that were good but without the results to match them; we’d sooner have a bad performance and take a one nil win all the time as it’s all about points on the board especially when we’re against the calibre of the team at this level – it really was a vital win.”

“Obviously, we took that into the FA Cup and there was the buzz around the players, and now in training too – everyone’s on fire! Dom (Samuel) is in the goals as well; Jordan (Graham) assisted; everyone’s performing. This week in training has shown it again – everyone looked bright, everyone looked sharp…”

On paper, the Gills have the resources to cause teams problems as Oliver told us, “We’ve got a good kind of mix,” he said, “what we have attacking wise when you remember we’ve got the likes of Trae (Coyle) who can come in and play behind and then of course there’s Jordan who’s got great feet; Dom can play off the shoulder as he’s a fox in the box and big John (Akinde) who can occupy defences – all of us have ways that we can affect a game and I think it’s vital for the team as you don’t want one player doing the same as another – we need that kind of mixture.”

“I don’t see why we can’t finish higher than the team did last year – I said when I signed. The Gaffer called me in and said that we want to get the Play Off spots and I don’t see why we can’t as there is good quality in this team – the good mixture that we’ve got all over the park; it’s a strong squad.”

Saturday sees the Gills return to SKYBet league One action with the “A2 derby” with Charlton Athletic coming to Priestfield and Oliver acknowledged that it will be another tough game for Steve Evans’ side. “We know what they’re capable of,” he said, “and that they’re coming from a League above. They’ve done well recently and are in good form but at home here against the big sides we’ve done well even though in the last couple of weeks results haven’t gone our way against some of the bigger teams we have been in games. I think that we’re all confident going into the game.”

“This year is the toughest League One has been in a long time – you see the calibre at this level – a lot of it shouldn’t be at this level but it is!”

“We’ve been unlucky in recent weeks but now I think we’re getting back to our form again and we’ll be fine!”

“Getting fans back would be a massive boost for all of us – it really is worth an extra man on the pitch when you’ve got the fans there as a lot of times when the chips are down and things don’t seem to be going right for you, we all know that fans can give you that little lift!”

“And it would be great for them too as we all know how times are hard for everyone across the country and the world. So, to give fans that extra boost too to be able to get back on in the stands and the terraces and to be able to watch the team that they support would be a massive boost for everyone.”

Picture supplied by Gillingham Football Club.