Gillingham head coach Stephen Clemence wants goals for Christmas after his team failed to score again on Friday night.

The Gills head into the festive period having netted just 19 times in 22 League 2 matches this campaign.

It’s nine goals in eight games under Clemence since he took charge for the FA Cup win at Hereford in early November.

“I’d love to see a few more goals, of course, like anybody,” said the head coach.

“I promise you we’re working hard on the training ground to try and improve on that but it’s been a problem here for a long, long time.

“I’ll keep working away on it, trying to do the right things and in time I’m sure it will get better.”

When asked if it was a matter of confidence with his strikers, Clemence responded: “I would have thought so. I think sometimes when you’re in good goalscoring form, everything you hit seems to go in.

“But when you’re struggling a little bit, you need one to go in off the backside if you like and end up in the back of the net.

“Confidence, of course, for strikers, they live on their goals and unfortunately this season there haven’t been enough.

“I can’t fault their efforts, the whole squad since I’ve been here. It’s not for a lack of effort. They’re doing the best they can, they’ll keep working at it and they’ll keep trying to improve and that’s all you can ask.”

The Gills host Crawley at Priestfield on Boxing Day, a game that will see Scott Lindsey, and former Gills no.2 Jamie Day, in the opposite dugout.

Lindsey was strongly linked with the Gillingham job when Neil Harris was sacked earlier this season but the Gills opted for Clemence.

“It will be another difficult game,” added Clemence. “Crawley play some good football.

“Scott has them playing some good stuff and they’ve got some good results so it will be a tough game.

“We’ll prepare properly, we'll let the lads know what they do but it’s also important to concentrate on what we do and keep trying to improve what we’re doing.

“I’m sure the home supporters will be looking forward to it. Our fans will get right behind us and hopefully we can get some points for them.

“Boxing Day football is a big tradition in this country and it’s nice to have a home game.”

And on giving his players Christmas Day off, Clemence reiterated: “It is a day off but they will have some work to do.

“If they came in, a lot of it would be recovery at this time of the year anyway. You can’t train too much when there’s that many games, four games in 10 days. If they come in sometimes they’re having a massage or some bike work anyway. They’ll be feeling prepared on Boxing Day, I promise you.”