Defeat for Gillingham on Saturday hasn’t dampened Steve Lovell’s enthusiasm for the job.

His team went down 2-1 at home to Northampton on Saturday and dropped to second from bottom in the League 1 table.

Lovell still hopes to be given the manager’s job permanently, after taking charge of the last three games on a caretaker basis, and feels performance-wise there isn’t a lot wrong.

He said: “I have been in the game a long time, as a player and a coach, but this is what you go into coaching and do your badges for, this is what you aspire to do. I love it.

“We lost but I will be looking into why we lost the game and how we can perhaps put things right for next week. But it’s not really about the opposition, it’s about us.

“We performed as I wanted us to, it was just that we couldn’t get the ball in the back of the net first half, when it counted.

“We were miserable (after the game) because we lost, not because of the performance. I couldn’t ask for more. They worked hard, we played some good football, the only thing we didn’t do was finish the game off with a result.

“We are there (second bottom) for a reason, we haven’t won enough games, but if we continue to perform like we can do, to improve, get a few people back (from injury) to push people, then we have a chance.

“I told the players, ‘heads up, look after yourselves’. We’ll come in Monday (today) and prepare for Rotherham next week, unless I’m told otherwise.”

Gills chairman Paul Scally has been looking for a new manager since Ady Pennock left in mid-September. He had narrowed his shortlist down to four this time last week.

Read the full story in Monday's Medway Messenger