Gillingham have a rare Friday night game as Cheltenham Town visit Kent with midfielder Ethan Coleman buoyed by back-to-back victories over Salford City and MK Dons respectively.

“Cheltenham will be a tough team to play against,” Coleman told us as he looked ahead to the Friday festive kick-off at Priestfield.

“They have been on a good run of late, and we will have to go out and give it our best to win the game. Our goal has to be the three points to back up the win at MK Dons last week, and the points will put us in the top six before the games on Saturday, which is what we want to set out and achieve.”

“Gaining momentum over this Christmas period would be massive for us and we just have to get the wins on the board and keep doing what we are doing as we have won the last two – we’ve done well, but momentum is key!” 

“We didn’t get much of the ball at MK and we defended well as a unit – we knew we wouldn’t have as much of the ball as we may like as players, but sometimes that is the way it goes.”

“But we did well and limited them to a small number of chances and then we took ours when it came around – Robbie (McKenzie) again, the scoring “machine” at the minute – for a really important win!” 

Asked about the partnership that he currently has with last weekend’s match-winner, Coleman said, “Rob is a brilliant player to have next to you. He works really hard and is popping up with vital goals too!”

“Working back to win possession is a massive part of our game too, and with Rob in there, it gives us a solid foundation to build on.” 

“With Armani (Little) being injured it has been important that our partnership has done so well in there and with him coming back soonish, the three of us will have a great battle for places which just underlines how important it’s been that me and Rob have the partnership at the minute, especially as we have now won two on the bounce!” 

After winning the Player of the Year award in May, the start to this season was a disappointing one for Coleman – a fact that he admitted.

“It was a very frustrating, but I do feel that I am now back to my levels now – it was frustrating, but it always is when you’re injured and out of the team.”

“Even when you’re coming back and you feel that you are not at your most reliable and very best and the peak of your powers.”

“But now it’s all good and the last couple of results have helped as well! It would be nice if we could score more than one and win by more than one goal, but as long as we are winning, it doesn’t really matter.” 

“I really don’t think that the resilience and character in this team needs to be questioned. I think we have got some great characters in this team and I feel that that is what we need to be higher up the table and compete!”