Gillingham clinched their League 1 safety on Saturday but there’s little time to relax for boss Steve Lovell.

There are around 20 first team pros out of contract this summer and securing deals for those he wants to stay will be a priority.

The Gills drew 1-1 at Bristol Rovers on Saturday, thanks to Elliott List’s last-gasp strike, leaving Lovell’s side five points clear of the relegation zone with one game to play.

Lovell said: “We will sit down this week and try and get a list of what we want and who we want to stay and we will discuss it.

“We have a lot of work to be done in the summer with the players we have got here and perhaps brining players in, but now we can reflect on it and the season gone by.

“It’s been an outstanding achievement by everybody from when we took over in October. We always knew it was going to be tough.

“It has taken a while to get over that line and I think I have lost a few more hairs on my head. I am just pleased for everyone, because of the effort we have put in, that we have actually secured League 1 status next year.

“There have been highs and lows and the last three or four weeks have been quite low, with the results, but the boys have dug in.”

There could be four teams still fighting to avoid being relegated from League 1 on the final weekend but the Gills won’t be one of them.

Gillingham have struggled of late but Lovell’s men have done enough to ensure they can play against Plymouth at Priestfield on Saturday with no fear.

Lovell said: “I know the supporters would have liked us to have done it quicker but we got there in the end and that’s the most important thing.

“It has been an experience, a very good experience, all the way through and I do look at things very positively. Through that bad run you have to be positive for the players and the club and that is how we have remained.

“My staff have been brilliant, Mark (Patterson, assistant manager) and Coxy (Ian Cox, coach) and Glen (Johnson, goalkeeper coach) have been first class, we have managed to get through. It was a tough old time we have had since October, taking over one from bottom.

“It was a massive task, massive for everyone. We only had about seven points from 12 games and it had to be turned around very quickly. Someone said to me it would be better to have the good run at the end of the season but I think had we done that I wouldn’t have had the job!

“It was important we got off to a good start, which we did, we got the ball rolling, got the results going, got the confidence going and the boys believed in what we were doing. We continued it.

“It is only the last five weeks I would say, where perhaps we came off the rails a bit, but we stuck in there, we dug out some important draws along the way, in those last five weeks, which has meant we have been safe, so it all adds up.”