“One of the most open League Two’s I have seen in years!” The thoughts of Gillingham boss Gareth Ainsworth ahead of the Gills trip to the Northwest this weekend to begin their five games in fifteen days at Highbury Stadium against Fleetwood Town. 

The Gills travel unbeaten in six but have frustratingly drawn the last five including allowing Barrow to come from two-nil down at MEMS Priestfield last weekend to grab a point in a 2-2 draw. 

Speaking to KSN at this week’s briefing the Gills boss looked ahead to another long trip the last weekend before Christmas and admitted, “It’s my neck of the woods – the northwest – and we have another long coach journey to do on Friday.”

“We know that it will be a trek the Friday before Christmas and so we are leaving early so that we are not on the bus all day.”

“We have done a lot of the prep this week and we are confident that we can take a team up there that can bring back the points.” 

“Fleetwood have done really well this season. Pete Wild has gone in there and has changed quite a bit. We have spoken in the past, but I don’t think that our teams have ever faced each other before – he has his standards, his values, and his teams work hard and are organised.”

“Evans and Graydon up front are a threat; they have some rotation in their squad if they need it and it is always a tough place to go.”

“Have played at Fleetwood many times especially at Wycombe including one season in the Play Offs when they were under Joey Barton.” 

“The conditions and the wind and the rain, being from the Northwest I know what that is all about and it can be hard work, so again we have to bring all this to the mix; I want us to be solid, I want us to score more goals and open teams up a bit more, just as we did first half against Barrow where I thought we were excellent.”

“Contrast though that with the second half when we let the lead go, but there were some real positives – we’re still unbeaten and have jointly lost the fewest games in the division (four defeats is matched only by Bromley and Chesterfield) and that’s crazy, we just need to turn a few of the draws into wins now and that is important!” 

“We are hard to beat – we are organised, defend well and the boys never say die! We have had a couple of where we have scored equalisers or winners very late in games, but second half last week we let ourselves down and I will take as much blame as the players, and we will go again on Saturday!” 

“This League this year is as close as I have seen it for a long, long time and we are in amongst it – with Fleetwood and Cambridge and Chesterfield and the rest, there is a mash of teams in the middle which will definitely change over Christmas.”

“The four games between Boxing Day and January 4th are intense – I was speaking to Andy Hessenthaler the other day and we both said that by the end of January we will know where we are going to be with what you are fighting for and we want to be amongst it, and we know that we have to pick up points on the road.”

“Form has been OK – we are not getting beat; we just have to start winning games as these days a win and a loss is points wise better that two draws!”

“So, it’s brilliant that we are hard to beat, but I want to go and win some games!” 

“It is nice to always bring something back when you’re on the road and the fans who are travelling this weekend, thank-you all so much!”

“Christmas is just around the corner, everyone else will be Christmas shopping and the last-minute stuff, and you are all coming to support the Gills! I cannot stress how impressed I am with that – it is brilliant!”

“I am hoping to that we get good crowds for the two home games over the Christmas period too (against Cambridge on Boxing Day and Colchester on Monday 29th December), but the Fleetwood game is next – let’s get up there, try and get the three points.”

“This time of year, is a challenging one for football, but I am really looking forward to it!” 

Looking at his squad only Nelson Khumbeni (shoulder) and Glenn Morris (thigh) will definitely be missing the trip, whilst Conor Masterson, Andy Smith, Sam Vokes, Euan Williams, Josh Andrews and Marcus Wyllie have all returned to training this week and are available if required for the first of five games across fifteen days!