Gillingham manager Neil Harris cut a despondent figure after witnessing his side extend their winless run to seven games.

Boos rang out at the full-time whistle as Gillingham went down 2-0 at home to Mansfield Town and Harris was forced to endure a barrage of abuse from disgruntled Gills fans who, even at this early stage, fear relegation.

“I think it’s fair to say the club has been in a difficult position for the past 18 months and I’ve been trying to turn that around,” Harris admitted.

“It’s been more difficult than I imagined, there’s so much work to do, from day one I knew it was going to be tough.”

“And 24 hours a day, seven days a week I’m continuing to try and slow down the juggernaut of disappointment that we’ve had over a period of time now.”

“We have to keep working to try and turn it around and move in the right direction and ultimately the best way to do that is to win football matches.”

Gillingham make the long trip north to Hartlepool United next Saturday and it will be a battle of two of the worst placed sides in League Two.

Harris’ side have scored just two goals in their opening nine league games and on this form, nearly a quarter of the way into the season already, they are looking doomed to be relegated.

They’ve just got to hope there are two worse sides come the end of the campaign…