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Gillingham are League 2’s form team at home - and boss Neil Harris now wants them to be a force to be reckoned with on the road.
The Gills made it seven wins from eight home league games in 2023 with victory over Carlisle last Saturday. That’s 21 points from a possible 24.
Success away from Priestfield has been a bit more modest, with no wins in three.
Two wins this year is an improvement on the first half of the season, though, with Gills without a victory on their travels. Saturday’s trip to Barrow is their longest in the division.
Following the win on Saturday against promotion-chasing Carlisle, Harris said: “It is now about following that up with the next three games, Barrow, Doncaster and Northampton.
“Following six points in the last three, let’s get some more points in the next three, and let’s go away from home now and build some momentum as well.
“We are doing it at home and, yes, it is nine points in seven games away, which is a good feat for a team that is in the lower reaches. But my demand might be slightly greater of my players.”
Gillingham lost 2-0 to Walsall on their last away trip, with Harris voicing his disappointment over his team’s standards in training before that game and then over the 90 minutes.
He asked his men to bounce back and they did, doing just enough to beat Crewe last Tuesday before a dominant performance to defeat a Carlisle team who started the weekend sitting third.
Harris said: “I asked the players for a response after not hitting the standards they had set in the three days in and around the Walsall game and we responded with a victory [against Crewe].
“We were miles better than Carlisle. For the first hour we absolutely dominated the game without making chances against a back seven, we dominated the game, it became a bit more even and we became more threatening on the counter-attack in the build-up play in the next 15-20 minutes, but the last 10 minutes and injury-time there was only one team who were going to win.
“I expect us to compete in every game and have a chance of winning. We aren’t going to win every game between now and the end of the season, home or away, but we go into games with confidence.
“We can’t wait to get to Barrow.”