Having been named Gillingham manager until the end of the season, Steve Lovell’s been talking about his time at the helm thus far and looking ahead.

“We’re on a bit of a run – lost one in seven I think it is – and so we’re looking forward to the game on Saturday at Walsall; preparing for it and hopefully we can go and match the performances of the last two away games and come away with a result,” he said.

“They’re a good footballing side who try to play – in the past we’ve had real tough games there – it’ll be tough; every game’s tough, but as long as we prepare properly and go about things at the start of the game in the right way, then we’ve got a chance to get some more points at the moment.”

The new Gills boss then spoke of what the past few weeks have been like for him. “They’ve allowed the coaching side and how I want to manage to come through,” he told us.

“It’s always been there, but when you’re an assistant or a coach, although you can put your views across to the man in charge, it’s up to them if they take the advice ultimately as they’re the one who makes the final decisions.”

“But now I can do that myself and make the decisions myself – I’ve had good ideas and ones that I’ve wanted to put into place.  At the moment it’s working so, that’s the structure that I like to play within and play as well – it’s not all just all attacking, we’ve got to be defensively minded too when we lose possession.”

“I know a way of playing that I want my teams to play; I know how every player should play in and out of possession – I think that helps as well and from an individual trying to teach and help the players.”

Last weekend saw the Gills earn a point against Bury – a point which Lovell was pleased with. “The way Bury played first half against us, you would have never thought that they’d be down the bottom of the League, let alone see them get beaten by Woking in the FA Cup on Tuesday.”

“So, there’s no pattern in football – you’ve got to be on your game all the time and you’ve got to prepare properly for it and have people who are going to work 100 percent every game. If it doesn’t, what happened to Bury the other night happens to anybody; so, you’ve got to make sure that you produce the goods on the day…”

“Winning in the FA Cup was a great reward for the players and to get through to the next round – with the excitement of the draw and everything that goes along with that – is something that will lift everyone.”

“There’s always the chance for drawing the big boy and that’s something that was the same when I played – you looked forward to the draw as you sat there waiting for your name to come out of the hat. We know that Carlisle will be the same so that will be another tough game, but let’s focus on that after two very important league games in the next week.”

The new Gills boss then turned his attention to his squad for this weekend and the trip to Walsall. “Mark Byrne is still struggling with his hand but Bradley Garmiston and Ben Nugent will come into the frame either for Saturday or at Blackpool (on Tuesday) and hopefully Mark will be back for Tuesday too.”

“Bradley’s played two halves this year and has done really well as he gives us something extra down the left side with his pace. Both Bradley and Connor Ogilvie are good defenders and when they’re both fit, they’ll give me a difficult choice and it’s a problem that I will like to have.”

Lovell continued “Billy Bingham will be out for a while with his broken leg and that’s huge miss for us as he was playing really well, but he’ll be back, but not for a while. He was playing very well and that’s the big thing when you’re a player – you get yourself back into the frame and back into the team again and you’re enjoying it only to get an injury like that – he’s a young lad and he’ll be back.”

“He’s a great lad and works so hard and he’s a good player who hopefully we’ll get back as soon as we can.”

With an eye on the hectic few weeks that end 2017, Lovell knows that he’ll need all the players fit and with game time as they look to press on.

“We sent the first-year pros to a game at Dagenham on Tuesday and they had a good win and played very well. We’re getting boys games as we need everyone in the squad in the busy period coming ahead of us into December and it’s important that everyone has their match fitness.”

“Walsall and Blackpool will pose us their own problems and we’ll hopefully be able to continue the form that we’ve shown in recent weeks!”