Midfielder Olly Lee has seen enough good signs to believe Gillingham are capable of avoiding the drop this season.

Gillingham lost 1-0 at Charlton on Tuesday night and are now ready to welcome play-off chasing Sheffield Wednesday to Priestfield this Saturday.

A handful of teams are in the relegation dogfight and the Gills are in the bottom four on goal difference, level on points with two sides above them who are outside of the drop-zone.

Lee said: “There is still a long way to go, eight games is a big part of the season, I still back us, I would back us all day every day.

“The gaffer drives at being positive. We will have ups and downs. We are not going to win the next eight games and be chilling in 12th, it is not going to happen, we know the situation we are in, what has gone before, but we are ready to show what we can do for the next eight games.

“We back ourselves. We know Sheffield Wednesday are a top, top side, the history of these clubs is something else but these are the games you want to play in.

“We were exited going to Charlton, a big team, doing our stuff, it will be the same against Sheffield Wednesday at home - we will back ourselves, we will fancy it, we will go toe-to-toe with them and see where it takes us.

“Since the gaffer (Neil Harris) has come in we want to set better standards, we want to beat these teams. I firmly believe that we could have gone (to Charlton) and won, I am gutted we haven’t but it is on to Saturday now.

“With eight to go there will be ups and downs but is about managing that and being positive and bouncing back.”

Reflecting on the defeat at Charlton, Lee said: “We had a few moments where we needed to capitalise. That is the story of the season, can we take these moments? We are dogged and we are working for each other and we just need to grind out a few more wins, which I am confident we can do.

“From our point of view we conceded a poor goal. We have had enough chances in the second half to have at least got a point. We are gutted, we are really disappointed because we felt it was a game we could get something from, but looking to Saturday we are really positive. Let’s go and win that game.”

It was another chance for Olly Lee to play against his brother Elliot. His sibling came off the bench in the second half for Charlton.

Lee said: “My brother is my best mate and we talk all the time. We are very professional, when we play each other, our mind is on the game and we still try and enjoy ourselves.”