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Gillingham first team coach Nicky Southall writes exclusively for the KM Group

Gillingham manager Andy Hessenthaler and first team coach Nicky Southall on the touchline during Gills 2-1 win at Crewe Alexandra
Gillingham manager Andy Hessenthaler and first team coach Nicky Southall on the touchline during Gills 2-1 win at Crewe Alexandra

We need to get back to winning ways and we need to start performing.

We are here to win games and at the moment we are under-achieving.

It wasn’t the worst performance in the world on Tuesday at Southend and we have had a lot of the ball but we need to be killing teams off.

Things need to change very quickly. We don’t want to be chasing other teams. We did that last year and it cost us.

None of the top teams got a win in midweek and that makes Tuesday’s result even more disappointing.

You get these opportunities but we haven’t taken them and in the last four games we have not been good enough.

We need to change things around quickly because we don’t want to get into a rut of losing games. You want to get on a run of winning games. The more you lose or draw you put more pressure on yourself and the games get even harder then.

It is great when you are winning but you have to show your mettle when you are losing.

We have put pressure on ourselves now going into the Hereford match on Saturday. We should win and we should have got something on Tuesday but we didn’t.

One thing that disappointed us on Tuesday was that the players sometimes don’t react quickly enough.

Joe Martin shoots and why haven’t we acted quicker? If you are hungry to score you shouldn’t think that he is going to shoot and it’s going to go in. You should be thinking ‘this could come off the keeper’. The players should be following in. Let’s break our backsides and make the most of a keeper’s mistake.

Once again the travelling fans were great. They stuck with us last year when things were tough and they have to stick with us now.

They are going to get restless and frustrated because they pay their money and they want to see winning football. If you are not winning then, like any manager, player or coach, they are going to be disappointed.

But nothing is won or lost after eight games – we know that from last year. We are having a sticky spell but the best teams in the world do and we are having ours at the moment.

We got through it last season and we need to show we are man enough and strong enough and have the right characters in the changing room to get through this one. It is three losses and a draw from the last four and that’s not good enough.

We just need to start showing that belief on the pitch.

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