Tim Dieng was told he was crazy to join Gillingham in January but he can see a promotion team in the making.

The 31-year-old Frenchman helped Exeter City to League 2 promotion in 2021/22 but then dropped back down a division to join a Gills team who were bottom of the Football League.

Dieng’s decision is looking more sensible now, with the Gills top of League 2, after winning their opening four games of the current campaign. The midfielder has known little else other than winning at Gillingham, with just five losses from his 24 appearances.

The Gills will be looking to make it five wins on the bounce this Saturday, since the start of the season, when they host winless Colchester.

"It’s been amazing, it’s the best start we could have had.” said the midfielder. “We really want to keep that momentum going.

“We have a good group, we work hard together and we have been solid. We haven’t conceded any goals in the league so far and scored at least one goal every game, so we’ve been winning games.

“It’s still early but we have the quality to play for promotion and there is competition in most positions on the pitch. We push each other to perform or you lose your spot, that is a good thing, that’s what we had at Exeter when we got promoted. I can see the same type of thing here.

“I am not saying we will definitely get promoted but we’ve got the squad to do it.

“People told me when I signed here that I was crazy but I knew we had the quality to, firstly stay in the league last season and to go for promotion this season, that was the plan, and it is going well so far, I always had faith in the project of the club.

“The plan is going well so far and I think there is even better things to come so I can’t wait!”

Dieng believes that the competition for places and the togetherness in the squad are important ingredients to a promotion-winning side.

He said: “When there is competition for most of the positions on the pitch, players have to perform to keep their spot in the team.

“The togetherness we have got is amazing, we have got everything to be promoted, I am not saying we will definitely do it, we don't know, but we have what it takes to do it.

“That togetherness just happens. There are good players and good people here first of all. When we went to Italy, in Como, the players came in and gelled with the squad and now it is like a family, we all go well together, there are no cliques, everyone can talk to each other, we can see that on the pitch, we back each other.”

Dieng missed Gillingham’s first two games of the season through injury but the midfielder believes it was worth holding back after picking up a slight calf strain.

“I got that before the first game,” he said. “I was gutted, but I think I took the right decision because if I kept going I think I would have pulled it and then been out for a month.

“I know my body, I took the decision not to play and now I am fit. I have made that mistake before and I learned from it!”

Gills fans have been accustomed to seeing Dieng play box-to-box and he’s enjoyed getting involved at both ends. He was a central defender before switching in his mid-20s. At Exeter he chipped in with a handy 14 goals during their promotion campaign.

“I was a centre-half until the age of 24,” he said. “When I moved to Exeter I started to be box-to-box and to try and score goals. At Exeter I scored and enjoyed it and I am trying to do the same here. It takes more energy but I’ve got it!