Gillingham defender Lee Hodson knows the players have to react this weekend.

A better second half showing at Dover helped gloss over a poor first half performance but summer signing Hodson wants to put that game firmly out of their minds.

Positive displays for the Gills against Southend and Stevenage this weekend will do just that.

Speaking after Tuesday’s 2-2 draw with Dover, he said: “The first half performance we were nowhere near good enough and second half we got a reaction.

“First 20 minutes (of the second half) we went out and were probably where we needed to be and how we should have started the game.

“We got two early goals and we looked strong and I think we need to brush up on that and start games the way we did second half.

“It was a disappointing first half but we had a good spell in the second half for 20 minutes and then last 20-25 there were bits to improve again. Luckily we have two more games coming up, Friday and Saturday, and we need to put the performance right from this game.”

Evans suggested that his players might have thought a game in Dover was going to be easy, having performed so well against Millwall and charlton last weekend.

It was anything but and Hodson said: “No matter who you play against, what level and what standard, you want to perform at the best of your ability and as a team.

“We are disappointed we haven’t had the same performance levels we did against Charlton at the weekend.

“As a squad we know it needs to be better and we have another two games coming up on Friday and Saturday where we can improve zon this performance.

“We set the standard high (against Charlton) and we need to continue at that standard. That is our goal. We need to be there week in, week out. We need to make sure our standards are very high over the next two games and put a goods week in before the start of the season.”

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