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Gillingham host fellow League 2 strugglers Colchester United at Priestfield on Boxing Day

05:00, 25 December 2022

Never mind Premier League opposition, Gillingham’s biggest game of the season is on the horizon.

The Gills have to dust themselves off from their trip to Wolves in the Carabao Cup and forget about an FA Cup game against Leicester City next month - their Boxing Day clash against Colchester United is much bigger.

Gillingham manager Neil Harris ready to take on Colchester United
Gillingham manager Neil Harris ready to take on Colchester United

The Gills are bottom of League 2 on goal difference and the team directly above them come to Priestfield for a match that neither team will dare lose.

Harris said: “We are where we are in the league and where we deserve to be, whether we like it or not, (we have) three tough games (in the league before playing Leicester) but games we feel we can compete and we have a chance of winning.

“We have to go one at a time, Colchester is the most important game of the season, a six-point game? Yes, without a shadow of a doubt, no point sugar coating it or hiding the fact, it is a massive game for both teams.

“We will be ready, the lads are due a performance at home, due a result at home and due to score goals at home, we scored three against Dagenham (in the FA Cup) and we looked a string outfit that could create and score goals.”

Gillingham are without a win from their last nine games in the league and have gone six without a goal.

There were good signs against Wolves on Tuesday night, battling well and taking the Premier League side up to the 77th minute before conceding. It’s a positive that the side will hopefully take with them i to the festive period.

The manager said: “Even in defeat we have to realise that we have got the makings of a good team, but we just need to be more clinical in the final third.

“Wolves played well and moved the ball well and had some really good play at times and they used that momentum and we have to do the same. We have shown time and again that we can compete with anyone in the league, just we haven’t scored enough.”

“If you isolate our last couple, even against Salford yes we were beaten 3-0, but first half was very good, second we gave poor goals away, first 45 was a strong performance. We took that into Dagenham and played exceptionally well, deserved to get through in the cup and got a great draw with Leicester to look forward to (live) on the BBC and then we’ve gone to Wolves and stood firm for 77 minutes and felt hard done by not to get through to the 90 minutes.

“The boys have a good spirit among them, they can see we are still not a million miles away, it sounds bizarre saying that as we are bottom of the league, but against a Premier League team they haven’t carved us open. We were always going to struggle at the top end of the pitch but these games coming up it is where we need to be better, if we were better at the top end of the pitch then we have no issues.”

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