Players’ futures are on the line at Gillingham and manager Neil Harris won’t tolerate the kind of performance he witnessed last weekend.

A poor first half was followed by a better second 45 minutes at Barrow - although chances at goal remained at a premium - and the Gills left with nothing after conceding late on. They now get the chance to impress with two games in four days over the Easter weekend.

• Gillingham agent spending revealed

Harris said: “We were by far the better team but then got sucker-punched and that is why we are at the level.

“We have come on a long way, we are all proud of it and delighted, but I keep saying, I am not prepared to stand still, I am not prepared to accept the players standing still.

“My job is to decide on players’ futures, I have decided on some and they know where they stand, positive and negative, but opinions can change.

“The best way to convince a manager of a football club that you are worthy of a better contract, or an extended contract, is by winning games of football.

“We are clearly not at the level with what we have got in the building to be a top seven side next year, certainly away from home.

“Between now and the end of the season I need to try and find the right formula and then build with the right squad for next year for being as good as we have been at Priestfield but on the road as well.

“I have made my feelings very clear to the players on what I expect next season, moving forward.”

The Gills boss has got his team winning at home - they’ve taken 21 points from 24 since the turn of the year at Priestfield - but it’s been more of a struggle on their travels. It’s an issue he knows needs sorting before next season if they want to challenge at the top end of the table.

He said: “If you don’t get results on the road it puts pressure on your home games. I am not saying we are under pressure, we’re not, we’re clearly not. However, moving forward as a football club we can’t just rely on being good at home, you have to match it away from home.

“We have been excellent at home, away from home I am clearly searching for the right formula, with a balance between tactically getting it right and being able to compete in League 2 physically and having enough legs as well.

“In the first half (last weekend) I didn’t get it right, we were better second half, but we have to be a better team all round moving forward.

“I have to put trust in my players and be loyal to certain players to give them an opportunity to show qualities away from home.

“But then individuals have to understand that I have to search because if we have not had the results then I have to make changes.”

The Gills host mid-table Doncaster on Good Friday, a side playing without the pressure of promotion or relegation issues to deal with, before heading to Northampton on Easter Monday.

Harris’ men have lost their last two games on the road and have no wins in four. Northampton are second in the table.

Gillingham are nine points clear of the bottom two and whether that’s already enough or not, Harris is determined to keep the season alive.

He said: “The season won’t peter out because there is too much of a feel-good factor around us and we are back at Priestfield at the weekend.

“We will look forward to that on Friday, the place will be rocking and we will be right up for it.

“After (being beaten at) Walsall I bemoaned the lads’ attitude, I am not bemoaning standards (at Barrow). Training, discipline, nothing like that, absolutely first class, but then if I want to keep developing us and moving forward then I have to look to improve us in different ways.

“I just want better standards on the football pitch, individually and collectively, and it is my job to demand it and the players’ job to try and deliver it. If they can’t deliver it then you have to look at the personnel.”