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Gillingham midfielder Mark Bentley writes exclusively for the KM Group

By: KentOnline reporter multimediadesk@thekmgroup.co.uk

Published: 08:00, 21 January 2011

Cody McDonald tucks the ball away for Gillingham against Northampton

Cody McDonald finds the net against Northampton

Last weekend’s result temporarily put us back in the play-off positions but the only talk in the dressing room at the moment is to keep the momentum going and really push for a top three spot.

We are halfway through now and in a great position to make a good push for it. We have a tricky game against Torquay on Saturday in another one of those ‘roll your sleeves up’ games.

I’ve played there a couple of times and it’s a difficult place to try and get the ball down as the surface is never that great.

mpu1

It will be no different to Macclesfield or Stockport so we will be prepared and determined again to get a good result.

The win last Saturday was a great result for us against a well organised Northampton side and in difficult conditions.

It wasn’t a classic for everybody who was watching but it was a hard-fought win and again everybody played their part.

Cody was again the match-winner for us (pictured above) keeping up his fantastic goal streak but the credit needs to go to every player who battled for everything.

We have kept another clean sheet which shows how well the defenders are working together.

Along with the goalkeeper, the same back four have played in all the games during this spell of good results.

Mark Bentley

Matty and Josh look commanding at the back and set an example for everyone else around them. Josh has been fantastic since he returned from his loan spell at Lincoln and credit to him because he came under a bit of criticism a few months back.

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But like a good pro, he has reacted in the right way since returning and has worked hard to get himself back in the team.

He is aware that there is plenty of competition for his shirt so he can’t become complacent, which is certainly bringing out the best of him.

Kevin Maher is another one who seemed to come under unfair criticism a while back but he has been showing everybody what he is about. He has to play a disciplined role as the holding midfield player, a position that he is familiar with and good at.

With his experience, he organises players around him and is a calming influence when we come under pressure.

I have played with Kev for a few years now and I know how good and important he can be.

He has also added tackling to his game this season as I can’t recall many times over the years seeing him diving into challenges.

It's another one of those long journeys this weekend, like most of the away games in this league but no doubt we will be well entertained by our physio Steve Allen.

We have banned him from singing now, so he has decided to put on a quiz after dinner on Friday. I got my first taste of one of his quizzes before the Stockport game and I have to say he has got a lot of improving to do as host.

Not only did he drag the quiz out for around two hours but the questions certainly weren’t designed for a group of footballers.

There weren’t many questions post-1960s. That said, with a couple of old faces in my team (Maher and Lawrence), I managed to lead us to victory.

Prizemoney, though, is still outstanding.

Another reserve game was called off in the week which again was frustrating for me and the other lads in need of game time.

The week before, a game against Glenn Hoddle’s academy was organised at Bisham Abbey which enabled us to play a full 90 minutes.

The academy he has set up is an excellent idea, giving some young players that second chance in the game after being released.

They had some good players on show and it was easy to see that Glenn had shown them the right way to play, as their passing and movement was good.

I’m sure if they continue to learn from one of the masters of the game they will get picked up by a club and have a future in the game.

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