Assistant manager Paul Raynor insists Gillingham will not give up on League 1 play-off hopes despite damaging defeat to AFC Wimbledon
07:51, 02 March 2020
updated: 07:55, 02 March 2020
The play-off fight is far from over for Gillingham.
Defeat to strugglers AFC Wimbledon has left the Gills seven points adrift – but it’s not over yet.
Assistant boss Paul Raynor does, however, admit it will be a tough ask.
They head to Sunderland this Saturday and then host eighth-placed Fleetwood Town a week later.
“We are still in touch,” said Raynor, after Gillingham’s impressive 15-game unbeaten run was ended with a 2-1 home loss against Wimbledon.
“It is going to be a big ask, but we will keep going. One thing we can never say about the players is that there is a lack of effort.
“There was a lack of quality (on Saturday), from certain individuals, but there wasn’t a lack of effort, that is one thing the guys always give us.
“When we were down to 10 men (after an injury to captain Max Ehmer) we were trying to win that game and they gave us everything, we just lacked a little quality.
“We will keep going, we will keep fighting, we will try and get as many points as we can
“We have a tough fixture away at Sunderland but we have been there before. We got a good result there in the FA Cup (drawing 1-1) and we beat them at home a couple of times.
“We don’t go there with fear, we look forward to maybe getting three points and seeing if we can get back in touch.
"We will keep going and see where it takes us.
“We won’t dwell on this disappointment too much, we will dust ourselves down, get the boys back in and we will get them going again, that is all we can do. We have to take that one on the chin.”
It’s been an impressive run for the Gills, having been unbeaten in league action since their loss at AFC Wimbledon in November.
Raynor, on post-match media duties, said: “We took the plaudits but you hear the cliches every week, ‘you take each game as it comes’.
“We have had enough praise and plaudits and it wasn’t good enough (on Saurday).
“Sometimes you have to be honest with your assessment and our performance didn’t merit a win. We didn’t get anything from the game and that was probably deserved.
“We are disappointed but we will keep fighting until that last game and we will try and accumulate as many points as we can, see where it takes us.”
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