Ryan Jackson’s return to Priestfield has so far proved to be a successful one, but the stand in skipper is taking nothing for granted.

Speaking to KSN this week, Jackson confessed that the mood in the dressing room was good, but…

“We know that we’ve had a good start, but everyone is really down to earth, humble,” he said, “everyone is just excited to keep working hard. Everyone gets on well, everyone’s quite tight knit and we’ve gelled very quickly – they’re a good group of boys!

“We’ve got a young squad who have stepped up to the mark very quickly, to be fair we’re all from similar backgrounds and similar areas as well.”

“Last Saturday, Oxford were a good side and we always show a really good bounce-back-ability to keep fighting and keep working hard and obviously we took our goals really well.

“We’ve got different attributes all over the pitch with V (Vadaine Oliver) who is a menace back stick and we’ve got a good dynamic all over the pitch.”

Looking ahead to the task facing the Gills this weekend, Jackson said, “MK are a good side, it’s still early doors as well and we’ll just try to approach it in the same manner as we did the Oxford game.

“We know that we’ve got to work hard and stick together and hopefully play a little bit better than we did against Oxford as well so if we can implement all those things then we’ll get a good result. We just try to work hard every day and improve in every game and we’ll see how it goes.”

Skipper Kyle Dempster is back in the squad for this weekend, a fact that Jackson seems grateful for.

He said “It’s been a nice feeling being skipper in Kyles absence trying to shepherd the boys into good performances and trying to use and use my experience to help the boys as well, but he’s been back this week, he’s looking sharp in training and so whoever will be captain at the weekend, we’ll still approach the game in the same manner.

“Everyone wants to win and everyone wants three points, that’s what we’re here for and obviously trying to win but we know that MK are going to be a tough side and we know it will be a tough game and we’ll have to work hard and see what happens!”