GO AD-FREE. Get 2 Months Digital Subscription for ONLY £1! Use code 2FOR1
GET STARTEDMore on KentOnline
GO AD-FREE. Get 2 Months Digital Subscription for ONLY £1! Use code 2FOR1
GET STARTEDMore on KentOnline
Gillingham boss Steve Evans is hoping they can keep the play-off dream alive on Saturday.
They can’t afford many more slip-ups over their final nine games and may need to win six or seven of them to clinch a top-six finish.
It’s not an impossible task but their hopes are on a knife-edge and Evans knows just how big this weekend’s fixture is.
“If we can beat Fleetwood it would be the biggest win of the season,” he said.
“What do we need Saturday? We need us to produce a top performance and we need Medway to turn up, don’t we?
“This is the biggest game of the season for me, this is bigger than West Ham (in the FA Cup third round).
“We need the supporters with us, we need them here believing. We need them to be loud and to make it an intimidating atmosphere for Fleetwood, sportingly aggressive – no nonsense.
“I have had it here (as an opposition manager) where there is such a passion for the team to win, we need that led by the Rainham End.”
Fleetwood – under manager Joey Barton – are one of the form teams in League 1.
“They have been outstanding, with their results and performances,” said the Gills boss, who was at Portsmouth on Tuesday to watch Fleetwood draw 2-2 in League 1.
“Putting it simply, we need to win. I said we have to be within six points with six games to go, at the moment we are eight. Win on Saturday and we should be six.
“We have an opportunity on Saturday to keep the dream alive.
“If we get beat and others get beat then the dream is still alive, it is not down to one game, but if others win then it becomes 10 points adrift, or something like that, then you have to be realistic and honest with the fans.
“There is no point me saying you can dream when it is done.
“If we can get to the last six games with six points or less (between us and the play-offs) then I think we will end up in it.”
Evans may have been involved in a few controversies over his time as a manager but Barton hasn’t been short of headlines, too. Neither men are afraid to say what they think and the Gills boss respects his Fleetwood counterpart.
Evans added: ”I have enormous respect for him. A lot of people wanted to see the kid fail, didn’t they?
“I respected his career greatly. Probably the only bad decision he made in his life was deciding to go to Rangers when Celtic were all-powerful, that’s never a good choice! But on a serious note, I don’t think people recognise how good he was as a footballer.
“He was outstanding and I have met him a few times as a manager and got on well with him. His team will be organised, disciplined and ready to carry on the form they are in.”
Gills will be buoyed by last weekend’s draw against Sunderland, scoring a 96th-minute equaliser.
Evans had a beer with Sunderland boss Phil Parkinson afterwards.
“We played them four times and he said they were his hardest games,” Evans recalled.
“He said ‘for what you have got, you have done great’ but it would be even greater if we are still fighting for the play-offs with six to go wouldn’t it?”
Read more on the Gills;
