Boss Mark Stimson believes his players’ desire to succeed in the game are giving his Gillingham side a fighting chance of making an immediate return to League 1.

The Gills recorded their third straight win on Saturday after beating Exeter 1-0 at Priestfield – a victory which lifted them up to fourth in League 2.

“We’ve just got to maintain it now and that’s the hardest thing,” said the Gills manager.

“We’ve had three wins and put ourselves into that little bracket that we want to be in – but there are 20 odd games to go.

“There’ll be some ups and downs but I’ve got the players who want it bad. They need to get into that next division to increase their deals and make it a better standard of living for themselves.

“Before it didn’t matter what division they played in, if they ever played, as the money was there for them.”

The Gills now sit level on points with the second place team in League 2 but Stimson is keen to keep his squad grounded.

He said: “We’re in a nice position and one the boys will be proud of, but they will know that can be undone within two weeks or two games with some not so good performances. They need to keep their feet on the ground.

“We’ve got a lot of games to go and a lot of points to play for. The players are focused at the moment and hopefully they can keep that.”