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Gillingham manager Mark Bonner got the right response from his players last Saturday - and has challenged himself to get it from them more often.
The Gills turned in a committed display to beat Salford City 1-0 at Priestfield - a welcome win after back-to-back losses - but they face a much tougher test this Saturday when they head to MK Dons.
Bonner said: “The lads knew they had to give a bit [on Saturday] - they couldn’t not do that. The test for me to be doing better here and doing a better job is that I’ve got to get that out of them more often.
“They have to give it more often, of course, but in the end reflect on yourself and say, ‘Right, come on, how often have we seen that?’. Sometimes, but not enough.
“I put the weight on my own shoulders to be better and get that out of them more often because that was a good level. It wasn’t a great game, it wasn’t full of beautiful moments of course, but it was a really important performance at an important time.
“As we go into a bit of a run of games now, and some big ones, we want to be in the pack and we want to be close to the pack, so it was an important game for us.
“You need those reactions all the time. Whilst we are really, really happy with [last Saturday’s win], there has to be a point where we go, ‘good, that's us. That’s the new normal for us. Crack on’.
“Do it again and make sure that we are prepared to do it again because we’re playing against the best team in the league.”
MK Dons are managed by former Chatham boss Scott Lindsey - a one-time target for the Gills. The 52-year-old led Crawley Town to promotion from League 2 last season but left them in September for a team 19th in the division when he made the switch.
The Dons have surged up the table since then, beaten only once in 10 games under Lindsey and assistant boss Jamie Day, winning their last six.
Bonner is hoping his own team can start a run of form as they look to build on last weekend’s win over Salford. Victory would have helped their confidence after a tough spell, with criticism coming from all angles.
He said: “Sometimes players need confidence and I probably don't help it, because I’m just telling the truth, but people need to hear that as well sometimes.
“Get confidence from games like that. Get confidence from games like Port Vale (when Gillingham beat the leaders 1-0 last month).
“You’ve got to take the confidence from those moments and they can become turning points for you, but only if you react properly from that and when we win games.
“We need a bit of humility to just go, ‘right, good, next one.’
League 2 table
“The good teams put runs together and that’s what we've got to try to become if we want to be a good side.
“You want to see a reaction from people and, fair play, the ones that were left out [were] disappointed but supported the team. The ones that didn’t play at all, the same.
“The ones who came into the team, the same. And that’s important. We’ll need that again and again and again as we keep trying to become better and change this dynamic a little bit, build towards a better team and a more successful team.
“We need to keep putting in performances like that and finding ways of getting results. That’s a good one. It’s an important one. It had been a tough week for us all [ahead of the Salford game], pretty demoralising. Games like that can give you a bit of energy, which is good.
“We'll try and have a plan to go to MK Dons and find a way of backing it up with another good performance and hopefully a positive result.
“No doubt that game and everything about it will look very, very different.”
