For the first time in their short Football League history, Bromley make the trip down to the Medway Towns this weekend for a derby where they arrive as League leaders, but for Gillingham boss Gareth Ainsworth the attentions of him and his team remain solely focused on the three points to get closer to the play-off places.

Speaking to KSN at this week’s briefing, Ainsworth praised counterpart Andy Woodman for Bromley’s rise to the League Two summit – he told us, “First of all, well done Bromley! They are right up there at the top of the League for a reason; they have done brilliantly this season; I bet not a lot of people saw that coming! Woody (Woodman) has done a brilliant job!”

The Gills midweek game at Cheltenham being postponed halted the gathering momentum at MEMS Priestfield after back to back wins over Newport and Harrogate, and it leave the Gills with the start of a potential backlog… but with an unexpected potential bonus for Ainsworth; “Not playing on Tuesday means we have now fixtures to contend with that will be becoming congested as the season goes on,” the Gills boss admitted.

“But we have a good squad, a good well-balanced squad to be able to deal with that now – we had injuries earlier in the season, but everyone now seems to be ticking along nicely – we had a few whacks and kicks but we’re getting there now.

“We are looking forward to all the games, we’ve got a couple in hand on some teams, but we have to win them! Points on the board are always important, it was very frustrating on Tuesday night, as Cheltenham was one that we wanted to play; we are in good form with good momentum, and we have to take that into Saturday now.”

“Not playing Tuesday gave me the chance to go to Bromley and see them play and I am glad that I did! You want to see the opposition (in the flesh) as a manager, there is many videos that you can watch these days, but it is nice being there, feeling the atmosphere, seeing the players, and we are looking forward to the game at the weekend!”

“They are very strong, very good, very physical and have some good players who are good at what they do. I used to have that at Wycombe, and we have to match this on Saturday. They have good individuals.

“Michael Cheek scores a lot of goals for them we know that – and they are a threat from crossed, from set pieces, but it is the way they get into attacking positions that we have to deal with as well – lots to contend with and we are all looking forward it. They are just up the road, it’s a “Kent derby” in League Two and we’re looking forward to hosting them and I am sure it will be a good game!”

The Gills go into Saturday potentially having their two new signings in their squad as they look to end Bromley’s long unbeaten League run. Cameron Antwi and Ronan Hale could both feature and we asked the Gills boss about his new men.

“Cameron is going to add to our options in the midfield area,” Ainsworth told us, “Whether it’s sitting deep, getting forward, he’s very versatile which is great and can even play up front as well. He brings a wealth of positions for us; his calmness on the ball, some great energy and some youth into the team.”

“Ronan is a striker who we have been tracking for a while. We are really pleased to get him over the line – he has a real good pedigree and goal-scoring record. He is very sharp in and around the box; gets his shot off and is a real bubbly character and I think that playing international games for your country shows the calibre of the player that he is. Probably not shown as much at Ross County, with all respect to Ross County, but it’s a team that has probably struggled a little bit and we want to be a team that gives him the opportunities and the platform to perform and play his best stuff. I am really pleased to get the deal done and cannot thank Brad and Shannon enough for their backing and Joe Comper for getting the deal over the line.”

“They have both trained now on Thursday and look good and we now wait to see if they are involved on Saturday.”