Gillingham defender Matt Lawrence has spoken of his relief after emerging from his worst period in the professional game.

Lawrence helped guide Gillingham towards another clean sheet on Saturday and into the promotion race in League 2 after an impressive run of results.

The centre-back left behind Championship football when he signed for Gillingham and admitted his first few months were difficult.

"We’re in great form now and it basically just highlights what bad form we were in at the start of the season," said the experienced defender.

"We weren’t performing well and we lost 7-4 at Accrington and 5-4 at Bury. They were some of the worst games of my life, not just personally, because I didn’t play well, but as a team it was terrible.

"I’ve not been involved in things like that since maybe when I was playing under-9 football.

"I had no idea what was going on really. I don’t think any of us could put our finger on it. It took a couple of meetings and a lot of hard work on the training ground.

"Now we are beginning to look solid. I don’t want to jinx it but I would be surprised if we let seven goals in again.

"We are looking very solid at the moment, that’s not just the back four and the goalkeeper, but as a team unit."

Was the early part of this season the worst you have known as a Gillingham fan? Leave you comments below