Gillingham head to rock bottom Rochdale this weekend knowing that if Neil Harris’ side can return to Kent with the points, they’ll have a nine point safety cushion between themselves and the bottom of the Football League.

The Gills boss though isn’t getting carried away with the improvement in form and knows that the hard work has really only just started as he told KSN this week.

“I could use the term that “we’ve done the easy bit, now the hard work starts” to the staff and the players. We’ve got to take the plaudits for what we’ve done so far but we cant rest on out laurels,” Harris said adamantly.

“Its really simple for me when I talk about my own mindset of let’s win the next game, that’s really what I’m talking about. I’ve got to keep that momentum make sure that we keep those standards. And when we’re a little bit ugly, we have to still find a way to win game and when we play really well, we’ve got to make sure that we do the League Two basics and still win the game of football.

“So its just constant reminders to the group that we’re in a dog-fight, that we’ve come a long way in a short space of time and that theres a lot of football still to go and a lot of points to play for, we’ve just got to make sur that we pick up more points than the teams below us.”

With the ongoing squad building, we wondered how close the manager was to having “his team” on the Priestfield pitch. “I think its heading the way more to what I want my team to look like,” the Gills boss said.

“Neil Harris teams whether it be with Vadaine Oliver here last year or Mikael (Mandron) earlier this , who’s not an out and out big man but more a target at this level, and now with Oli (Hawkins); with Steve Morrison at Millwall, Keifer Moore at Cardiff, have tended to play with a “big nine” down the middle, with what it looks like around the nine, we’ve got Tom Nichols as well. Theres George Lapslie and Aidan O’Brien as “tens”; Ben Thompson last year as an eight running off Vadaine.”

“So yes it’s more of a feel to what I want my team to look like. I like my teams to be able to compete, I like my Gillingham team to be able to compete because that’s what Gillingham fans want to see; they want to see aggression, they want to see headers and tackles; they want to see foot races and their team come out on top. And I think I got a pretty good take on why I took the job in the first place was that I think I fit the mould for the manager here, so we are starting to see it.

“The transfer window was difficult in the summer as we know and we didn’t quite get the players that we identified at the time for various reasons. But in this window we’ve got a couple in that we wanted in the summer and added a few more or were maybe out of reach in the summer, we’re definitely moulding more towards what I want my team to look like, but the bottom line is that my job is to build the Football Club and win games of football, and what it look like between now and the summer is winning enough points to stay in the division.”

After the club allowed fans to pay their own way as Priestfield sold out against Crawley Town, which left many, including the manager, wondering how many would come out on a cold February evening that also just happened to be Valentines Day. “I didn’t know what to expect,” Harris admitted.

“Before talking to you earlier, I watched the Leyton Orient v Rochdale game from Tuesday and there were loads of spare seats and Orient are flying at the moment, which surprised me a little bit! Looking back to our game on Tuesday, the atmosphere, when we actually got the fans involved in the game as it took us a while to get going, was brilliant.”

“The fans really got behind us again which just really does epitomises what the fans have been like since I’ve been here; they want to go with the team and there’s certainly belief in the Club again now with Brad and Shannon involved with the new look squad.

“Building the fallen bridges between the dressing room and the terraces is still going to take time, but we’re moving in the right direction. So in a lovely way, was I surprised we had a five thousand gate on Tuesday? No not really as they’re on board with us and want to go with us.

“I was really pleased and thankful for the attendance and really pleased that we gave the fans something to cheer about second half and really pleased for the their patience after a dire first half!”