Gillingham goalkeeper Jake Turner’s got a new contract but the pressure to perform remains – with manager Neil Harris making it clear what he expects.

Harris believes the presence of fellow senior goalie Glenn Morris at the club has been key to Turner’s continued improvement and that progress needs to be maintained. Anything less and Morris will be back in goal.

Turner signed an extended contract at the end of last week and the Gills boss said: “Jake was in the last year of his contract and he's now he's 24 so we would lose him on a free next summer.

“He's done really well and deserves the reward and we think we can develop him (further).

“How far he's come in 12 months is really a credit to Jake but also credit to (goalkeeper coach) Deren Ibrahim, who works with him every day, and also one person you can't forget is Glenn Morris, who kept him out of the team last year and who has kept pushing really hard.

“What I have said to Jake is congratulations on the new contract but he needs to keep developing because if he doesn’t he won’t be in the team.”

Harris is keen to keep their best players tied down to longer-term deals, avoiding the risk of losing them for nothing when the contracts come to an end.

He said: “That is the way football should be - it hasn’t worked here for a while for various different reasons but is has to work like that, I am a bit advocate of it.

“You try and keep your players that you want to keep for the right reasons.”

Turner joined on a two-year deal last summer after leaving Newcastle United. He’s started all nine league games for the Gills this season, keeping clean sheets in five of them.