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Benno's Beat: Gillingham's Mark Bentley writes exclusively for the KM Group

Mark Bentley comes away with the ball
Mark Bentley comes away with the ball

We know we’re going to have to be patient and punish Lincoln when the chances arise tomorrow (Saturday) as they’ll probably come to try and frustrate us at Priestfield.

They’ll be looking to pick up their first points of the season and we’ll be aiming to start the match better than we did on our last home appearance.

It was another frustrating afternoon last time out at Hereford, where again we dominated the game and did everything apart from score.

It was important to get off to a good start with our game plan to press their players on the ball, forcing them into making mistakes, the kind of tempo we try and set in very game. Mark Bentley in action at Hereford

We feel we have players with higher quality on the ball than most in this division but what you find is the opposing players are good, honest pros who will always work hard and make it difficult for us to play.

So it’s important that we match other teams’ work-rate and the better quality we have on the ball at times can create chances for us, which was shown last Saturday.

Unfortunately, we came up against a goalkeeper who pulled off some great saves, especially Danny Spiller’s effort in the last minute, which looked certain for the top corner.

The back four took a bit of a hammering after the Norwich game so it was great to keep a clean sheet. They had some big lads up front but the defence dealt with them well.

Matt Lawrence climbs high above his opponent
Matt Lawrence climbs high above his opponent

The game saw Matt Lawrence (pictured right) make his debut, which gave us some much-needed experience at the back and, considering he only trained with us on Friday, and his last game was the end of last season, he did well to complete the whole game.

The arrival of Matt also gave me a chance to move back into midfield, where I feel at my most comfortable. It was nice being able to get forward as I think people forget that I came here as an attacking midfielder.

A special mention must go to our fantastic support on Saturday, who really got behind us and appreciated the effort the lads had put in. Your support could really make a difference this season.

With some players slowly returning from injury, it’s important for the players with the shirt to show they deserve to keep it.

Injuries have been a nightmare so far with Danny Jackman the latest who could see himself sidelined for a few weeks.

Apart from Simon King, most of the injured lads should see a return in the coming weeks, which will be good for the squad and, I’m sure, will give the manager a nice headache.

With no Tuesday night game this week, we have had a good week’s training, building up to the weekend.

See you Saturday.

More from Mark Bentley in Friday's Medway Messenger newspaper.

Post any questions of comment to Mark by adding a comment below or emailingmedwaysport@thekmgroup.co.uk

Don't miss our live text coverage of Gillingham v Lincoln this Saturday onwww.kentonline.co.uk/sport

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