Gillingham boss Neil Harris is hoping a tough season run-in will bring out the best in his side.

The Gills head to promotion chasing Sunderland this weekend and also have games against leaders Rotherham and play-off hopefuls Wycombe among their six remaining games.

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“We have some tough games and sometimes they are the best ones to play,” said Harris, who has taken the team four points clear of the League 1 drop zone.

“Teams that have something to play for, they feel the nervousness of the league table and feel the pressure of the situation, while teams like Accrington (last Saturday), all game they played with a care-free attitude, a bit like Bolton, with everything to gain and nothing to lose. They can be really dangerous sides. You might get the odd team that don’t fancy it and they might be on the beach, but the majority of times you find teams go and play with a freedom and raise their levels without the fear.

“Teams certainly at the top of the table, with so much to play for, so much to lose, those are sometimes good ones for us to play.”

The pressure is certainly on Sunderland to succeed this season. Alex Neil is the fourth permanent manager at the Stadium of Light since they were relegated to the third tier in 2018. The team are six unbeaten and have won back to back games at home but are currently two points adrift of the play-off places.

Harris said: “The Stadium of Light is a great place to play our football, probably infront of a crowd of around 30,000, a great atmosphere, huge football club that are under huge pressure to go up in the play-offs and get promoted this year.

“We talked about Sheffield Wednesday recently in a similar way, they have an array of talent, very good players, can play various systems under Alex Neil, who is a vastly experienced manager and we know it is a very tough ask but it is a great one for us, with the form we are in and the confidence and belief that we have in the group.

“We don’t have free hits at the moment because the league table doesn’t lie but on the back of Accrington (winning 2-1) it gives us real momentum to go and play and see what the game brings.

“We go into every game at the moment believing that we can get a result.”

The Gills won at Accrington despite not being at their best. Harris knows his team will have to raise their game to get a result.

The manager said: “Afterwards I said it wasn’t the performance I wanted but it was certainly the result. We will have to play better and we have played better than that. I expect us to play better.

“We played so well against Ipswich Town and over 90 minutes against Sheffield Wednesday and against Charlton second half. We have played some really good teams since I have been here and played so well in games, we will certainly have to raise our levels for the next six games in my opinion.”

The Gills now have a gap between themselves and the bottom four. They were 10 points from safety when Harris took over 12 games ago. Harris has continued to state they have achieved nothing yet, however.

He said: “The message doesn’t change, Vadaine Oliver was beating the drum after the game on Saturday in the changing room. ‘We have done nothing yet’ he said, ‘it is all about winning the next game’, that is the mindset I am trying to instil in the staff and the players. (We say) ‘well done’ and straight away we focus on the next one.”