Up until last weekend, you’d have been a brave soul to bet against Steve Evans’ Gillingham finishing inside the League One top six come May.

The Gills were on the second-longest unbeaten run in England, behind only Premier League leaders Liverpool – 15 games – and it was hard to see where the next defeat was coming from. That was until AFC Wimbledon came to town.

The Dons have been somewhat a bogey team for Gillingham down the years. Gillingham haven’t beaten the team from Kingston at home since the club reformed, and the Blues’ last loss in the league, at the time of the game, had come at the hands of Glyn Hodges’ side way back in November. 

The fact that Wimbledon’s 11 was littered with ex-Gillingham players – Luke O’Neill, Joe Pigott, Callum Reilly, Scott Wagstaff – didn’t help things; the visitors prevailed on the day 2-1, with Pigott scoring the opener, Reilly getting the winner, and Wagstaff, now the Dons’ captain, giving it large at full time, winding up the crowd.

The loss left Gillingham seven points off the play-offs with 10 to play. They had some tough fixtures left, those around them had games in hand, and it was looking gloomy.

Fans had lost hope.

“Build for next season!”

“Play the youngsters!”

“There’s no point in fielding the loan players!”

“Can we be six points off with six games left?” asked manager Steve Evans after the game, though. He hadn’t given up.

Gillingham’s next two games would tell a lot about whether they were still up for the fight. A long trip north to fifth placed Sunderland was in order, followed by a home tie against in-form, eighth placed Fleetwood.

After Mikael Mandron had cancelled out Kyle Lafferty’s opener at the Stadium of Light on Saturday, the big Irishman struck again to send Sunderland into the lead. It was a lead they held until the dying seconds of the game, too; as most are probably now aware, Mandron popped up with a late, late equaliser – a theme the Gills have started to become accustomed to – to ensure the spoils were shared.

Gillingham are now eight points off Portsmouth in sixth. A draw away at Sunderland was ok, but, as Steve Evans stated, it could’ve, and maybe should’ve, been a win. The game against Fleetwood, scheduled for next Saturday, is now massive.

If they’re to be where Evans wants them to be with six games remaining, Gillingham need to gain two points on the top six in the next three games – in those three, they face Fleetwood, MK Dons, and Rotherham.

It’s important to remember that teams above and around Gillingham still have games in hand. Victory over Fleetwood, however, would be a great sign of intent.

Lose, and it’s almost certainly time to give up the dream. Win, and you just never know.