Gillingham manager Gareth Ainsworth insists his side will be better next season after Saturday’s 6-2 drubbing at Barnet.

Academy striker Sullivan Booth was handed a start by Gareth Ainsworth as he looks to the future, but it was Barnet striker Callum Stead who stole the headlines with five of his side’s six goals.

On an afternoon that the travelling 1000 plus Gills fans will be keen to forget, the home side saw Ainsworth’s team were there for the taking after a disappointing season and they were clinical in front of goal.

After such an impressive start to the campaign that saw The Gills roar to the top of League Two, the Kent club have seen their form plummet and they now find themselves sitting 18th with one game to go.

Reflecting on yet another defeat and looking towards next season, Ainsworth conceded his current squad wasn’t good enough and wholesale changes would need to be made in the summer.

He said: “The levels are just not at the level that we need to be in League Two. If we need to get out of League Two, if we need to finish in the top half of League Two at least, then we need massive changes at this club. I want to be a part of that.”

“I am a scrapper, and it will never get me down. I will have a go, and I will fight my way out of anything. That is who I am.”

“I fought my way in my career to play at the top, and I am going to fight my way at this management to find a way to get this team better. I am absolutely committed to that.”

“My style is up and at them and in their face. Can we press? Can we get the second balls? Can we get it wide and get chances? You haven’t seen it yet. Not really, we have seen a couple of glimpses of it. I want to get the players who can play my style and my way of playing.”
 

Meanwhile, Ainsworth had nothing but praise for Booth who was one of the few highlights on a difficult afternoon.

“What I will say is that there is one shining light in that performance today, and that is Sully Booth. I am so pleased that I picked him. The only thing that I am gutted about is that he is on the end of a 6-2 defeat, because he doesn’t deserve it.”

“Sully, well done, kid. He has got a future, a big future. He has taken his goal brilliantly. Right place, right time. It was a great ball across the face of the goal, and then he got the assist for Josh Andrews.”

“A first-year academy player there has stepped up and done really well, so I am really pleased for him.”

Finally, Ainsworth had nothing but praise for the thousand strong Gills fans that made the journey to support their side:

“It was fantastic for the fans to turn up like they do. I have said that it is a Championship away support, without a doubt. They have every right to turn because we aren’t good enough defensively. We let too many in. The fans, they never fail to get behind us and support us.”

Ainsworth must now pick a side that shows some real fight for the final game of the season on Saturday as former side Shrewsbury Town come to Kent.

End the campaign on a high and some of the voices calling for the manager to go might be silenced, lose and it could be a very uncomfortable summer for the Gillingham manager.