Midfielder George Lapslie is keen to cement his place in a Gillingham side that starts the weekend top of League Two.

Gillingham are back at Priestfield this weekend with supporters and players alike looking for another three points to mirror last week’s win over Harrogate Town albeit in much cooler weather.  

George Lapslie has been talking to KSN this week about last weekend and paid tribute to the backroom staff for their efforts in getting the Gills back to winning ways in scorching temperatures… 

Reflecting on the near sauna like conditions that greeted the players, Lapslie, who had only returned to training the day before after following concussion protocols told us, “It was hot for sure – even in just the build-up to the game you were doing everything you can to stay out of the sun.”

“Before coming to the game, I was just sitting in front of a fan for a couple of hours as the heat really does take it out of you.”

“Sometimes I do think though that when you’re on the bench and watching it is hotter than when you’re playing as once the game starts, you’ve got other things going on in your mind and you’re not thinking about how hot you are!” 

“The coaching staff were legend and couldn’t have done any more than they did,” Lapslie went on, “they had cold towels for us during the warm ups and they are really fine margins that you’ve got to be really thankful for and made the difference.”

“It was why we were ready to score in the 96th minute! Couldn’t have asked any more of them – even in the warm up before the game, people understood to just stay calm because if we’d have gone too hard, we’d have killed ourselves for the game.”

“Normally you see people just go for it and not worry about the conditions, but I thought it was quite clever the way they slowed down the pace of the warm up, taking loads of time to get drinks which is half the battles on days like that – to keep hydrated; you hope the other team isn’t… it was a good day though as we won!” 

“I’ve had an enjoyable nine months here and the Club has changed completely. It’s probably my best win ratio at a Club as the form we’ve been in since January or when the Gallinsons took over has been something that’s really been something really enjoyable to be a part of, even when you’re not playing.”

“You’re sitting on the bench just wanting the lads to win the game as it’s a much bigger picture as to what’s going on here than just yourself and wanting to play yourself.”

“There’s a real shift as this Club wants to go in the right direction. I’ve had competition for places like this before – probably at both Mansfield and Charlton – I’ve been lucky where I haven’t really found myself in the position where I’m playing with a team that hasn’t got a load of good players and staff.” 

“The League is very competitive and at no point did we think we’d be steamrolling it by any stretch of the imagination and there’s still a long, long way to go!”