Gillingham head into tomorrow’s (Saturday) game at Southampton sitting 13th in the table but manager Mark Stimson feels with a bit more luck they could be much better placed.

Nine games into the season and Stimson’s side are holding their own, despite missing key players Simon King and Stuart Lewis since pre-season, as well as dealing with a number of knocks to other members of his slender squad.

"It’s very respectable when you look at the bigger picture and what we’re missing," said Stimson (pictured).

"The boys though will be disappointed and they’ll feel that they should have collected more points. At Colchester and Tranmere they did enough to get a point if not three.

"It’s about results and if you don’t get the result then you look for the performance. At Tranmere and Colchester we didn’t get what we deserved. We have to maintain those performances though and then hopefully we’ll get a return.

"I’m disappointed as I feel we should have had more. If we stay where we are now though until the end of the season then we’ll be happy."

Saturday’s opponents Southampton sit bottom of League 1, but only because of a 10 point deduction, due to breaking the Football League’s administration rules. Alan Pardew’s team have spent big in the summer and their league position doesn’t mirror the huge job Stimson has this weekend.

Southampton suffered an injury time defeat against Bristol Rovers on Tuesday night. The Gills have yet to win away from home, something Stimson is keen to put right.

"We need to make sure we start doing better away from home," he said.

"I would put Southampton up there in the top bracket in the division, one, because player wise they have some quality and two, because they also have the finances. They amount of money they paid for (Rickie) Lambert shows what type of club they are.

"Lambert is a big powerful striker who scores a lot of goals. The other lad (up-front) is a lively player and our boys are going to have to be on their toes."