League Two leaders Gillingham are back on the road this weekend as they head to Yorkshire to face Doncaster Rovers with boss Neil Harris demanding a better performance from his side.

Harris wants better than he got in the last away day at Grimsby Town a fortnight ago… 

“I think three home wins – and good performances too – as we’re back on the road again this weekend,” Harris told us this week, “Seems like we have done a lot of travelling already this year with four of the first six away from home.”

“It is another tough trip to Doncaster – again another side that sums up League Two; they are a good side. Anyone looking at the table either in my changing room or outside, do not be fooled by Doncaster’s position – they have got a good, experienced manager and they have got some really good players who play really well in games, so I am fully expecting another really tough encounter.” 

“I’ve watched the game that they played against Forest Green last week and it was a very good, open game that could have gone either way, but that’s League Two life as we’ve seen this year where we haven’t played well, but still won games, so we’re fully expecting to face a side with confidence and we have to go and make sure that we are the best we can to hit our targets and standards that we’ve hit in a lot of games and certainly in lots of halves of football this year, because we’ve also shown that when we don’t hit them, it’s tough!” 

“Look at the first half at Grimsby where we were really poor and then last week against Morecambe we scored two in the first half and could have had five or six, that’s as good as we were – we’ve got to make sure that we find that consistency and certainly going to Doncaster away we have to play better than we did at Grimsby. 

“It is all about amassing points and getting points on the board as quickly as you can and then sustaining it as long as you can.”

“I stand by what I said after the game, and I could be proven wrong over the course of the season, that whoever is in the top parts of the division will lose a lot of games this year and that is just because of how tough it is!”

“We’ve got to make sure that we’re as consistent as we can be and make sure that when we’re on top in games, we put them to bed, but also in tight games we fall the right side of the lines and don’t concede like we did against Grimsby for example and when we dominate for sixty five minutes like we did against Colchester and then concede a silly goal.” 

Harris then confirmed the disappointing news that Oli Hawkins has broken down again with his foot injury during Tuesday’s B team game against Millwall.

Hawkins started the game but was forced off with a recurrence of his foot problem which will again mean he will be missing for the foreseeable future.

“He’s not right and he’s not going to be right for a period of time now,” the Gills boss said.

“We have followed every protocol we can, but the injury is a horrible injury and there is no right or wrong with it, players just have to go at their own tempo.”

“He’s had every emotion going and he’s been really gutted this week – he was on the bench on Saturday and put himself out there on Tuesday.”

“It was great having him back as he’s a great character in the changing room – we have all wanted him to be involved, but it is not to be for Hawks.”

“Unfortunately for us we are going to miss him for a period of time now; how long? We just do not know!” 

Harris also confirmed that this week is too soon for a Dom Jeffries return, whilst George Lapslie who hobbled off against Morecambe is facing a spell on the sidelines whilst Tim Dieng is continuing his recovery from the injury he picked up at Grimsby.

Better news though of Lewis Walker who played in the B Team game on Tuesday though Harris indicated that he may be looking for a loan for him in order to regain much needed match time.