Gillingham play away to Stockport County in League 2 this Saturday
Published: 05:00, 16 December 2022
Updated: 09:20, 16 December 2022
Gillingham have Premier League opponents awaiting but manager Neil Harris doesn’t want to hear about Wolves just yet.
The Gills head to Molineux in the Fourth Round of the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night but face a tricky League 2 challenge first this Saturday.
Harris’ men - who will also play Leicester City live on BBC1 in the FA Cup in January - head to an improving Stockport County, hoping to end a nine-match winless run and a six-game goalless streak in League 2.
Since playing their last league game - a 3-0 defeat to Salford - they have dropped to the bottom of the EFL.
Harris knows his men will be thinking about those big games ahead, but not too much, saying: “I like to think they are talking about them and looking forward to it but they don’t talk about it infront of me because they know, I will be saying ‘you have to focus on Stockport at the weekend’, that is more vital than either of the other two games.
“Those games are ones that take care of themselves when you get to it. When you finish your last league games before going into Wolves or Leicester at home, then you enjoy that moment, at the moment the players know what is coming on Saturday.
“We are preparing for Stockport and that is all that matters.”
Stockport won the National League title last season and after a slow start to life back in the Football League - following an 11-year absence - they are now finding some winning form, climbing up to 13th.
They have a decent budget too for the lower leagues, with Paddy Madden banging in the goals and making former Scotland international and Premier League defender Phil Bardsley their latest recruit following his Burnley exit last summer.
Harris said: “They are a good side, a team that should be in the top seven, with where they have come from in the last 12-18 months, not just on the pitch but financially as well. They have been able to sign players in the summer that a lot of other teams at their level wouldn’t have been able to go and get.
“They have come on strong recently and they are a big, strong, organised League 2 side but they also have goals in their side as well, so it is another great test for us."
The Gills had last weekend's game against Bradford City postponed and are now bottom of League 2 on goal difference.
Harris said: “Dropping to the foot of the table isn’t a nice experience, it should hurt the players, sometimes a point separating four teams (at the bottom) is a little bit irrelevant, we just have to look at the next challenge, a game at a time and for us to get through to the January transfer window.”
There was some illness in the Gills camp last week but Harris insists there are no major issues. Stuart O’Keefe and Robbie McKenzie both missed the FA Cup game against Dagenham but will be hoping to be involved, as will winger Callum Harriott who has been working his way to fitness after signing as a free agent three weeks ago.
Harris said: “The sooner I can get him involved in a safe environment then I certainly will be taking a little gamble with him, a best-judgement gamble, but there will be a gamble at some stage.”
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Luke Cawdell