Gillingham scorer Simeon Jackson comes away from Blackburn's Keith Andrews in Tuesday's Carling Cup tie Picture: Grant Falvey

It’s been a disappointing few days for us. Firstly at the weekend against Hartlepool we were not up to scratch in our performance and that led to a result which we didn’t want.

On Tuesday, the performance was greatly improved but unfortunately it wasn’t enough to get through against a decent Premiership side in Blackburn.

We have to take confidence from the performance, though, and if we can take that into Saturday, then we will have a great chance of picking up some points.

Again we didn’t help ourselves with the first goal against Blackburn. I was sloppy and got caught with the ball in our half and they punished us for it. We went in behind at half-time when we should have at least been level.

This all came after the defeat to Hartlepool on Saturday. We all felt annoyed and frustrated that we didn’t get anything from the game – we were well below par. We didn’t get going and showed none of the spark and creativity we had displayed in the previous games.

Jacko was unlucky with his chance where the defender made a great clearance when it was goalless. The team that scored the first goal was always likely to come away winners and they scored a goal that I don’t think the lad will score again all season – in off the bar in the top corner.

It left us down but equally determined to put that performance right and kick start ourselves again. Hopefully, the Blackburn performance will be like the Villa one was for us last year. We went from strength to strength afterwards.

We now face a trip to Walsall where both teams will be looking to bounce back from defeats so I’m sure it will be a tight game. It’s one we are relishing and we believe we can get a positive result.

Walsall away was one of my first few games for Gillingham and I remember us being the better side there for long periods but Tommy Mooney was the difference that day. We came away losing 2-1 but hopefully we’ll get the win this time around.

There are still 42 games to go so the league still has to shape up properly. I think after 12 or 15 games there will be clearer picture of what might unfold over next eight months.

We’ve added Josh Gowling to the squad permanently and he will strengthen our defensive options and increase competition for places which is always positive.

He has fitted in well and hopefully we all can develop a good understanding like we had last year.

Danny Jackman has also joined us this week and from the reception he got on Tuesday, it’s clear to see that he will be a good signing.

He will give us great balance with his left foot and competition for places in a couple of positions.

Another transfer this week was Sol Campbell’s surprise move to Notts County. Apparently he hasn’t gone for the money? I’m not sure about that and I’m sure it’s got nothing to do with the five-year big-money deal for a 34-year-old!

He has had an amazing career and maybe he wants a different challenge. There will be immense pressure on Notts County this year with the money they have spent to get promotion so it will be interesting to see how they
get on.

I would love to hear your comments and feel free to ask any questions you want. You can now email me direct atjnutter@thekmgroup.co.uk