It’s a big weekend – another big weekend for Steve Lovell and his Gillingham side as they travel to AFC Wimbledon for ninety minutes of SKYBET League One football that is so crucial to both clubs.

Lovell was in an understandably buoyant mood as he shared his thoughts with the media this week ahead of the club’s trip to Kingmeadow.

“We can take a lot of confidence out of not just last Saturday, but also the last five or six games as well,” the Gills boss enthused after last weekend’s 2-2 away to leaders Luton Town.

“You look at our last six away games and we’ve only lost one. So away from home the results have been coming with the performances – there are a lot of positives we take out of Luton in the chances we created and the way that we played in general away to the League leaders.”

“They were very complimentary about us and so they should have been too, as we played really well and again it’s the consistency perhaps of the team that we’re putting out now. There’s no coincidence that the performances have been consistent because it’s been near enough the same eleven every week.”

The Gills will face a completely different side to the one that visited Priestfield in September when the Dons won 1-0. Lovell admitted, “Wally (Downes) would have gone in there and got them to roll their sleeves up and get down to work – they’ve had a good run, which I think is five wins in seven – and are one of the in form teams at the moment, nicking a lot of games one nil and so defensively we’ll expect them to be very well organised and rely on Joe Piggott up front for a lot of their play.”

“We’ll go there knowing that it will be a tough game – a very tough game indeed – and we obviously want the points as both sides do, making it a massive game for both clubs. We go and put in a performance hopefully that will carry on with what we’ve been doing on our travels and hopefully get the result.”

“We know that the pitch will be nice on Saturday which will suit us. There will be a good atmosphere and a good crowd there and I think that everyone will know the importance of the game the players included. It all bodes well for a good afternoon and I’m looking forward to another challenge – a different challenge and one that we’ll go there and give it our best shot.”

To the all-important team news and Lovell for once had a clean bill of health to report. “Alex Lacey came through the Kent Cup game OK on Tuesday – he hasn’t played for a while and it was nice to see him come through the ninety minutes and I think he’s back to where Alex should be, and he’ll be in contention for a place on the bench on Saturday.”

“Ricky Holmes is almost there I’d say – he’s almost there. It’s one that we don’t want to risk something that will put him out for the rest of the season as he’s so close. We’ve got to be one hundred percent sure with what we do with Ricky is the right thing, but he’s training every day and looking better and better and so we’ll have a look definitely for next weekend. Other than that, we’re all OK.”

With an incredible ten clubs stuck in the three point log jam between twelfth and twenty-first with the bottom three just three more points behind meaning half the division still face the drop leaving the Gills boss as bewildered as the rest of us.

“A lot of the teams at the bottom are playing each other between now,” Lovell said, “and the end of the season so it could go that I don’t know what the exact points situation will be down the bottom – one more point we could be as high as twelfth – it’s ridiculous!”

“It’s all about taking each game as it comes, but it does mean that it’s a massive one Saturday for both teams! It won’t change how we approach games and the way we prepare for Saturday – we know what their personnel is likely to be and how perhaps how they could set up but knowing Wally he could change that on Saturday.”

“We’ve got enough in our squad to be able to give them a good game I’m sure of that…”