Gillingham boss Neil Harris admits he’s learning on the job about the inconsistency that comes with managing a lower-league side.

He admits he’s only been able to name his best XI once this season, which hasn’t helped, but neither has the swing in performances individually and collectively. It looked like things were clicking after a fine recent performance at Grimsby, only to turn in a shocker days later against Mansfield.

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With no wins in eight league games, Harris will be hoping those eight out of 10 performances are incoming when they host Sutton United at Priestfield this Saturday.

He said: “What we see in training at the moment is a little bit like the league stuff, a bit inconsistent, what I want to see from the group is consistent training standards, every day.

“I expect more complete performances over the 90 minutes rather than 30-45 minutes. Certainly playing at home, we need to be better for sustained periods. Do I see us getting better? If I could pick a settled team, that would help for us to be better.

“I see quality on the training pitch and I see us score goals and I see us build play, I see good habits, I see a little lack of composure at times. We have to give the fans something to entertain them and keep them going, to keep that belief and trust in the group. Do I think we will get better? Yes I do.

“Players can be good for a game and not so productive for two, you can see the players that tend to move from the lower leagues to the Championship or Premier League are the ones who tend to produce similar stats week after week after week. Yes, I have not been used to it in the past, but it's good for my learning curve, working with players and trying to identify and help them to develop.

“It is about consistency. We were solid and reliable against Rochdale and games like Walsall and Grimsby where we could have won, there were 7 or 8 out of 10s and games we have lost where they were nowhere near it, that is the level we play at and why the teams at the top are the most consistent with their performances at the moment because they have recruited players who have done that in years gone by.”

Harris was asked about the budget, whether he had the resources to succeed, but he knew what he was getting into when he got on board.

“Responsibility of winning games of football falls on the manager,” he said. “I have enough experience to accept that, I am not hanging myself out to dry. I expect us to win more games.

“Are we big spenders in the division? No. We are a long way from it, that is nothing that should be aimed at the chairman, he runs the football club in a professional manner and has he got endless deep pockets to go and spend the money that Mansfield, Stevenage, Salford and Leyton Orient can go and spend? No. We haven’t.

“I knew when I took the job that whatever division we would be in, League 1 or League 2, I knew we would have a bottom end budget and I choose to embrace it and try and find ways of winning games.

“I understand everyone wanting success overnight, I am no different, I am [a] football fan and a winner, I want to win, I don’t like losing, I hate it. It is my job to find ways with the personnel that we have got to make us better.

“It has not been the start we want and, as ever, the fans at this football club support this team. We are in a tough period at the moment but I am strong enough to make sure we get through it. There will be good times on the horizon.”

Right now the Gills are at the wrong end of League 2, with one win from 10 and just two goals scored. Some solid defensive performances have at least ensured some draws have occurred along the way but Harris knows there are expectations in the job. The team were booed off in their last home outing.

Responding to a question of pressure being put on the team, he said: “When you care you want to do better, when you set high standards and demand high standards then you want to deliver them yourself. I want us to have a few more points and win a few more games and be a healthier league position.

“We are where we are after 10 games, it is about continually trying to improve, pressure on the players? Yes. I think they will feel it because they will feel that they are a better group than the points we have gained so far. We care as a group and we want to do better.

“Have we been good enough so far? No. We have only conceded 11 goals which is mid-table, in goals conceded charts, but we haven’t scored enough, lowest scorers in the Football League. That is not good enough.

“I haven’t got the answers to why but we have only scored two league goals. We can only work as hard as we can at trying to improve it. Is the squad capable of being better? Yes. I believe so. The onus is on us to start it immediately, to being better.”

Weekend visitors Sutton have yet to win an away league game in the league this season, with one draw and three defeats from their four outings.

The Gills boss is expecting a tough challenge and knows their manager well. Matt Gray was a scout for Millwall during Harris’ time there as manager.

Gray led Sutton to promotion from the National League in 2021 and guided them to an eighth-placed finish last season in their first as a Football League side. They head into the weekend 13th in the League 2 table.

“He has found a recipe to be successful,” said the Gills boss. “The model they used to get out of the National League and into the Football League with the 4G pitch and being a community club and raising funds, yes it is the modern way, we see good local clubs doing it at the moment, and they are finding their way.

“Sutton have had to adapt but that is natural when you step into the Football League and return to a grass pitch, different revenue streams, but what Sutton are first and foremost, they are [a] resolute League 2 side, a big physical side that ask a lot of questions of the opponent, more so than anything it is going to be another challenge for us at the weekend.”