Gillingham look to end their five-game losing streak this weekend as they travel to face traditional foes Swindon Town, for a contest that takes on extra significance given the run that Mark Bonner’s side are currently enduring.
Much has been written about the long standing “feelings” Gills fans feel toward the Wiltshire side, but for Gillingham 2024, the goal has to be all about breaking the losing streak, and no-one is more focused than midfielder Tim Dieng.
“It’s very important to get a result on Saturday before the FA Cup break,” the Frenchman conceded. “It is a big game for the Club far more importantly, we need a win!”
“Losing five on the bounce is not ideal, we are in a tough situation at the moment but I think we have enough to win against any team in this League and we just need to stay together, stay positive and go to Swindon, put on a big performance and get the good result we need!”
“We need to stop the bad momentum and start a good one like we showed in the first two months of the League that we can beat any team in this League and we can be the best team in the League, that hasn’t changed. We still have the same qualities within the squad, so we have to find it within us and go to Swindon, get the win and start another winning streak!”
Such is the traditional rivalry between the two Clubs, nearly twelve hundred Gills fans are expected to make the trip to Wiltshire, and Dieng conceded, “We need them. We need everyone at the Club to support us, we want to go there and put on a big performance for them so they can have a smile on their face when they leave the stadium.”
“I think that we have to trust the process as we showed that the process was working in the first games of the season. It is just that we have to stay together and get back to the basics and try to be hard to beat again. On Tuesday we created more chances than them, but ended up losing two-nil,” Dieng said referring to the midweek home defeat to Newport County.
“We were not good enough in both boxes, the first goal was out of nowhere – it was a great finish as even Lappo (George Lapslie) on the line could not have cleared, but nine times out of ten, he would not have scored that goal, but it happens and we have to take our chances as well!”
“It has been a horrible October for us, it has been a shock and we have not planned it but we have to react quickly as we don’t want the five games to become six, seven, eight so we need to stop the losing streak on Saturday.”
“We have conceded goals that are not like us,” Dieng continued, “Three goals from set pieces in the last two games, and that’s something that we took pride from earlier in the season by not conceding, but that has happened in the last two games, that is what is killing us at the moment, but we have to stay positive because those little errors and go from there.”
“I have been through these types of spells at Clubs before and I know how it is and you have to stay positive, we always say that you cannot be too low when you are down or too high when you are up and this is exactly where we are, but we have to react, that is the thing and we get ready for Saturday.
“It is the perfect game for us, it will be a good atmosphere, there is that rivalry and the fans will be behind us, but we have to do the job on the pitch first!”