Gillingham manager Neil Harris has spoken of his pride in his squad after they finished the season with a 1-0 win at Salford City.

Cheye Alexander’s penalty in the 84th minute was all that separated the two sides after Harris opted to give some of his fringe players a start with the likes of Jake Turner handed a game in goal, whilst David Tutonda started at left back.

Having been beaten 2-1 at home by Newport County last weekend in their final game of the season at Priestfield, Harris opted to freshen things up a bit and was glad he did:

“I didn’t quite know what to expect because it wasn’t us last week, we were flat and lacked energy.”

“I thought the performance was excellent. We streamlined the squad with the players we expect to have next season and the ones we won’t didn’t travel, and that gave us a real focus.”

Meanwhile, Harris already has one eye on next season and what the future could hold with the investment under new owner Brad Galinson:

“I want to develop the group and advance the group. The club are going to try and support that with the business over the summer.”

“I just want us to keep moving forward and be better. I want competition for places and I want us to start well in the summer.”

“I want us to carry this momentum that we’ve built into the first game next season.”

“We’ve seen Orient celebrate on our pitch, we’ve seen Salford celebrate today, we’ve seen some good teams recently and we want a taste of that. That’s why we’re in the game.”

“I don’t want to big up our expectations for next year, that will come naturally. Our form in the second half of the season and the good players we’ll hopefully sign, that expectation will be there.”

“I don’t want to put too much pressure on that now. I want us to enjoy what we’ve achieved since January.”

The level of expectation is naturally there now though from Gillingham fans and knowing the level of investment that could make The Gills have one of the biggest budgets in League Two, means with that expecatation will come pressure.

It’s hard to imaging how quickly things have turned around at Priestfield. At Christmas it looked like the side were heading for non league, now fans can start dreaming of promotion into League One and possibly higher.