Gillingham boss Steve Evans is under no illusion as to the size of the task his patched-up squad face this weekend as title favourites Sunderland come to Kent.

“For sure games like this weekend is why we’re in football.” the Gills boss told KSN at this week’s briefing.

He went on, “I think that if you look down the years that Paul (Raynor) and I have had with teams… we went into Crawley and we inherited something that was a wrecked ship when we went in; we went into Rotherham, and it was a wrecked ship; we went into Leeds, and it was a wrecked ship.”

“And what a wrecked ship is players who are not good enough to compete at the level on a regular basis – I’m talking about the group and not individuals – but the minute it’s not a challenge for us, it’ll be a difficult one to accept because every team we play in League One will be a challenge; it just happens that this week we’re playing THE biggie for me in this season’s League One – it really will be a significant challenge that will bring that extra slice to the game who could go top of the League with a couple of games in hand.”

“They will believe that they can come here and deal with us, so we’ve got to have a game plan and be ready or else we will lose.”

“I think at times we’ve had to give people opportunities and they’ve never let us down,” the Gills boss went on. “And you know why? They all give us everything that they’ve got – there’s not a player in our group who does not give us everything they’ve got.”

“What we’ve done is that we’ve had three or four players that we’ve tried to bring into the team even if they’ve had a lack of activity and are not sharp enough and that tells in their performance.”

“So going into a game like Saturday, we need our big players to stand up – we need them all to stand up! All of our players need to produce a top performance and our big five or six players need to be at their top level for us to have a chance of getting a point and probably more than that if we’re going to get three.”

Evans was then asked about the incredible response that the Gillingham fans had given to Vadaine Oliver’s social media post after missing a penalty at Wycombe last weekend.

“You know I wasn’t surprised!” the Gills boss admitted. “I was made aware of the post after the weekend, and I have to say that it didn’t surprise me; the Gillingham fans have been incredible in every way.”

“I don’t think I’ve been in charge of a team who are two goals down inside ten minutes and yet still comfortably out sing the home supporters.”

“I just turned to the bench and told them that those people in the stand and the people at home really deserve better than what the players were giving them!”

“But the boys did rally especially after half time – yes Vadaine did miss a penalty, but I thought it was very clever the way that Wycombe delayed the kick – we missed some good chances and if we could have got it back to two one, we’d have given the supporters something to get behind us.”

“In our last home game – against Wigan – we were two nil down yet the Rainham End were in full voice and so from our point of view – and from my point of view – I’ve played in front of some passionate, crazy, brilliant supporters that support their side and I know for a fact that when I do leave Gillingham, the one thing that will stick in my mind is how the supporters have bee,n not only to me, but the way that they support their team.”

“And I look at it from Glasgow Celtic… it’s either in your blood or it’s not, and with Gillingham Football Club, the supporters who come home and away, it’s in their blood!”