Gillingham face Tranmere Rovers at Priestfield this weekend looking to get back into the Play Off places with Robbie Stockdale confident they can.

They go into the game after a disappointing 2-0 defeat at Barrow in midweek. 

Speaking at this week’s briefing assistant head coach Robbie Stockdale reflected on Tuesday’s defeat in Cumbria, “It was disappointing. I do not think that we reached the level of performance that we had over the last few games, and if you don’t reach those levels, you get results like we did!”

“I do not think that there was an awful lot in the game, but we certainly didn’t play as fluently as we had been doing and, Barrow were very solid defensively and we struggled to really make any clear-cut chances and unfortunately, we were on the wrong end of the result!” 

“To reach the form we did beating Wrexham and Salford, we drew with the League leaders here in Stockport, we were in good form going into Tuesday.”

“Whether it was a heavy pitch; I know the manager spoke after the game in hindsight about maybe changing a couple of players may have helped, but you also feel that those players deserve another opportunity as sometimes as a player you get into a rhythm of playing…” 

“I am pretty level-headed – that is my job – and I do not think that we are as good as everybody says when we win a game, and I don’t think we’re as bad when we lose a game; I live in the middle and my idea of where the team is floats between that.”

“I think there’s always room for improvement – we came off the game at Wrexham and Salford and I still showed the players clips of where we could get better. That’s our job and that is why we spend so long analysing our own games.” 

Tranmere make the trip to Kent this weekend and Stockdale was in no doubt of what awaits the Gills come three o’clock.

“It’s a competitive division,” he said. “We went to Tranmere in quite early in our time here and they beat us 3-1 on the day.”

“We felt that we had lots of the ball, and they are another stubborn team to break down with some good players, but if we play to our levels, we are a match for anybody in this League. We came off that a little bit on Tuesday – no dramas, we will get back on it!” 

“All of my focus is Gillingham Football Club; it is all my focus is. If we take care of our own businesses, that’s part of being professional, that is the job!”

“If it comes down to the last game of the season and we need favours here, there, or anywhere, it does not matter unless you are winning your own games.”

“Do you look at the table after a game? Of course you do, we are only human, but if we do not beat Tranmere on Saturday, that is our own doing, and we deserve to be where we deserve to be.” 

“It is a promotion race, one hundred percent and I believe that we are in it!” 

“Up until Tuesday, we had put ourselves in a strong position and it just shows that if you can go on a little bit of a run – two or three games – it can be really beneficial to your season and the League table, so hopefully we’ll get this place rocking again on Saturday and get the right result!”