Captain Josh Wright has told Gillingham team-mates to man up if they want to meet their play-off target.

Wright believes Gills have the quality to make the top six in League 1 – and Saturday's 3-0 victory over Rochdale shows they are adding another side to their game.

He said: “I felt it was a proper man’s performance. We dug in, we showed grit, determination, desire and they’re some of the words I’ve been using in our team huddle and the changing room.

“That’s the sort of stuff we’ve needed to pick up results and we’ve shown that over the last few weeks, and that’s exactly what we showed out there then.

“We know we have to be better, we know we have to stop conceding goals. If we can keep doing those sort of things, with the squad and this manager, we’re only going to be looking up.

“I keep saying it, we’ve got a great chance, we’ve got a better squad, better everything than we did last season. It’s up to us to show it."

It’s not just about toughening up on the pitch – Wright, boss Justin Edinburgh and assistant manager David Kerslake have also spoken about dealing with criticism.

Wright added: “We’ve just needed to be strong and stand up to it because if you get criticised and shouted at and whatever else, all those words we could use, and you crumble and you go within yourself, you’re not going to perform out on the pitch.

“The gaffer, Kers, all of his staff, they’ve all remained upbeat and they’ve all remained strong.

“It’s been tough, it’s not just been tough for us, it’s been tough for them, the chairman, everyone, and if we went under it would only have got worse.

“That word – men – we are that and we’re getting stronger at that and the more we keep doing that, the better we will be.”