It’s derby day at Priestfield and Gills coach Ady Pennock is under no illusion about the size of the game.

“If you can’t get up for these sorts of games… …you shouldn’t be in professional football!”

And with Millwall in town it doesn’t get much bigger – or more important – in the Gills survival fight!

It would have been so much better had the Gills returned from MK Dons last weekend with a point, but Pennock was obviously still smarting as he told KSN this week, “Saturday was tough to take.”

“After a bitterly disappointing first half where we gave them too much room and two very poor goals, the second half was so different and we played unbelievably well to get back into the game to 2-2!”

“But that’s where we let ourselves down and have done so since I’ve been here – we didn’t manage the game out!”

“Coming back from two nil down, you gladly take the point, but we didn’t! As a result everyone was so deflated after the game, but we have to pick ourselves up again and go again…”

After results finally went the Gills way on Tuesday night, Pennock admitted, “It’s back in our hands now – we’ve got three big home games left, and taking it one game at a time, it’s a massive one this weekend.”

“I was at the Shrewsbury v Millwall game on Tuesday night with my phone in one hand keeping check on the other scores.”

“Management becomes so easy when you don’t play a game and go up a place – it was a fantastic trip home; it was the first “clean sheet” we’d kept for a long time and I was buzzing on the way home.”

“In all seriousness, the results were a big plus for us and it’s now down to us and back in our own hands. Then on Wednesday I was at Oxford with Neil (Harris) and he didn’t say anything about his plans and I didn’t tell him either,” Pennock said smiling, “he’s a good guy and has done really well there, but it’s a game we must focus on and cannot wait for!”

Focusing on his team for the weekend, the Gills coach spoke first about the suspended Bradley Dack who was sent off during the crazy finale last weekend; “He let himself down, he let the club down in my opinion which is why I fined him two weeks wages which has been accepted and he’s apologised to both the chairman and me.”

“We can’t do anything about it and we have to move on which is frustrating as he’s been getting better and better each game – he’s worked very hard off the pitch and I think it’s showed on it.”

“Consistently he’s been very good for us and I think he’s got back to his old self – he’s a cracking lad and it’s just a shame that he let himself down like that.”

Pennock then turned his attention to the injured and had some desperately disappointing news for Bradley Garmston; “Sadly he won’t play again this season – he’s back from Qatar and sadly the news isn’t good and he’ll be out for the rest of the season.”

“He’ll be working hard over the summer to get back fit again for the new season, but it’s a real shame. He had the tear in one hamstring and they found one in his other one too and that’s really tough on him. It’s a real kick in the teeth for him… “

It wasn’t good news either for Scott Wagstaff. “Scott has had a scan and he’ll be struggling to be back this season after a slight tear on his ankle,” Pennock told us.

“He is a good healer and he might be back for the last week, though it’s not likely! There’s better news on Chris Herd though – he might be available for the Easter programme if he comes through the daily sessions he’s having.”

“We’re in this together and we know that we will have achieved something if we can stay in this League and that’s what we’re striving to do – everyone at the Club is looking to stay in League One and that starts on Saturday and we can’t look beyond Saturday!”

“It really is one game at a time with other teams playing each other – we’ve got to worry about Millwall and then Bristol Rovers so it’s one game at a time.”

“Games are running out, but we’ve got to stay positive – we can look beyond Millwall. If we get a win then we’ll be looking straight away at other results as other teams will be I’m sure.”

“Even if we lose we’ve got to stay positive and then focus on Bristol after that. It doesn’t surprise me that it’s so tight (five points separate Charlton in 16th and Swindon in 22nd) as it’s a tough league and anyone can beat anyone else – there’s still a lot of football to be played…”

“It’s a local derby for goodness sake and if you can’t get up for these sorts of games with a big crowd then you shouldn’t be in professional football in my opinion.”

“When I played here, these were great games – they were fantastic and I’m really looking forward to it and so are the boys – it’s a big local derby and we know that they need the points as well, but more importantly we need them more than they do!”

“We’ve got to make sure that we play the game and not the occasion, that’s the most important thing – play the game and then enjoy it afterwards!”

“All that matters is keeping this club in this division… It is all about us – we’ve got to win games and sooner rather than later.”