Stuart O’Keefe will take great pride in leading Gillingham out as captain against his former team.

With Kyle Dempsey sold to Bolton on transfer deadline day new boss Neil Harris needed a replacement skipper and O’Keefe - already the vice captain - is the man.

The 30-year-old, speaking about the position, said: “It means a lot to me, it’s a bit more responsibility and I enjoy the role of helping people as much as I can. It is a privilege to lead the team whenever I am asked to.

“To lead a side out at Portman Road would be excellent, it would be amazing if I get to do that.”

Harris spoke about making O’Keefe captain, initially handing him the armband for Tuesday’s game against Crewe, saying: “I didn’t have time to give a huge amount of thought behind it but I went with Stuey because he has done it before and I know him.

“He has great experience, a man with huge dignity, integrity and pride and certainly for the rest of the season Stuart will be captain.”

O’Keefe never played professionally for Ipswich but was at the club between the ages of nine and 16.

He said: “It’s a club close to my heart, where my football started and my family still live that way.

“Ipswich is always a game with a little bit of an edge for personal reasons and I always look forward to going back to Portman Road. It is a nice stadium, a big crowd, a great place to play your football.

“It wasn't long ago that we got well beaten by them [losing 4-0 at Priestfield]. It wasn't a good day, we owe it to ourselves and the fans to go there and put in a proper shift and performance and give ourselves and the fans something to be proud about and something positive, to put it right after that last game against them.

“It is a positive challenge, a big stadium, a big crowd, a team with a big budget who will be expected to get out of the league sooner rather than later, it is massive challenge but we are looking forward to it.”

Gillingham are deep in trouble in League 1, fighting a battle against relegation, but a new manager has given them a lift and they ended a 17-game run without a win when they beat Crewe 1-0 at Priestfield on Tuesday night.

It was a relief to have finally got the win.

O’Keefe said: “The longer it goes on without a win the harder it gets and that was massive. It had been lingering over us but we have got that win now. We no longer have to worry about it, we can work hard and be positive and see where we are Saturday.

“The boys enjoyed Tuesday, to get that win and winning feeling again, it was a real positive and will help us. The gaffer said after the game we will only get better and they haven’t been in the building long, hopefully we can climb up as much as we can and see where we are in May.”

New boss Harris had just a day to prepare for that Crewe match, while also dealing with the final hours of the transfer window. To have won in such circumstances was pleasing.

Players were passing hand-written messages around the field during the midweek game. Harris was unable to do much, in terms of team shape, systems ad tactics with the team.

Gills still got a positive result. “It shows we can get better," said O'Keefe. "It is credit to the management to have done what they have done at short notice. To get a positive result straight away was fantastic and we are looking to take that on.”

The Gills fans appreciated the efforts of all involved, clapping the team off, just days after they were booing the team after a 7-2 defeat against Oxford United.

“Tuesday was massive for everyone,” said the skipper. “Especially players and fans, we need to get that relationship where we are in it as one and we can get out of this as best we can.

“There will be times when we have to dig in and be hard to beat, I think that was shown second half when we were up against it at times. We got the result over the line and it was a relief for everyone.”