It’s a big week ahead for Gillingham as they start by hosting AFC Wimbledon on Saturday with manager Neil Harris excited about what lies ahead.

Ahead of home games with AFC Wimbledon and Bradford City, Gillingham boss Neil Harris has been reflecting on the way his side have responded to defeat at Mansfield Town by beating Grimsby Town and Rochdale to extend the club’s recent massively improved form in taking sixteen points out of the last twenty-one available.

“The two wins pleased me as they came off the back off a defeat and we responded correctly and in different ways,” the Gills boss admitted.

“After a poor first half against Grimsby, we improved second half, concede an equaliser but had the character to bounce back and to win the game comfortably in the end was great testament to the group.”

“The away game saw a hugely professional display at Rochdale where we played well first half – not so well second – but still came out on top in both boxes. And at the moment League Two is about both boxes at this stage of the season and we’ve got to make sure that we keep improving defensively and attacking-wise in both boxes.”

“We probably won’t get to where we’re striving for and a complete performance this season. It’ll be pre-season… I obviously hope that it will be before the end of this, and I don’t want to sound like… We have come a long, long way in a short space of time, and I’m so, so pleased as you can tell.”

“But it does take time to build performances – you don’t go from being seven points adrift at the bottom of the League to winning every week!”

“Don’t get me wrong, but I hope we do continue, but it’s about building stability, trust, it’s about building on the pitch – discipline without the ball, patterns with the ball, confidence and combinations – and that does take time, and pre-season is the best time to get that.”

“At the moment we’re doing it through game time really, and the players have responded and everything I’ve chucked at them tactically or challenge wise, they’ve delivered.”

“If that’s the way we’ve got to go for the rest of the season, so be it!”

“You want to be in a position as a Football Club – and this is where we want to be in a period of time – that you’ve got players under longer contracts because you’ve recruited sensibly, and you know what you’re getting from the players.”

“Then you’re only signing three or four players in each transfer window because you’re continuously evolving players. You’ll have the core group. There’ll be the players beneath them that are ready to step in and that’s when you’re in a really good place which is where we want to get to.”

“But it’s one step at a time, and for the moment we are focusing on Saturday and then Tuesday, followed by Harrogate away and Stockport away and so on, focusing on those games with a thought on the window in the summer.”

“We’re continuously reviewing the players who we already have because that’s their jobs – to perform! So at the moment is just about performances as winning games, but that will naturally carry us through to the summer.”

With two home games next on the list for the Gills, the manager is hoping to have a full squad available for Saturday’s game with AFC Wimbledon, and he’s hoping that club captain Stuart O’Keefe may be involved.