Gillingham manager Neil Harris has called for more leadership from within his side as they head into a massive game at Crawley.

The statistics make horrible reading for the Gills side of 2022/23 and they badly need a result against a Crawley team who have struggled themselves this season, starting the evening 19th in the league with just four wins.

Harris’ men haven’t won an away game from their previous nine league outings and have scored just twice on the road. They are 23rd in the league and even the manager admits he’s fed up.

Harris spoke frankly to his players after Saturday’s defeat at Newport and then to the media afterwards. He said: “We can talk about fine margins, being in games, but I would rather talk about the character, or lack of character. Where is the leadership? Where is the noise, where is the vocality, where is the leadership on pitch?

“I expect more from the group, more quality from the group, we are a small team and knowing the game and the level is key but it is having the heart and desire to compete. Eleven fans on the pitch wouldn’t be the best team but they would have a right go for the club. I didn’t see it for 20 minutes (at Newport) until I started ranting and raving and pointing the finger, then we had a little bit of a reaction but we still conceded two soft goals.

“It is not because they don’t care, well maybe they don’t care. I am talking really openly and honestly from what I said infront of the players, you get to a stage where you go, ‘do you actually care about it? Because if you did you would do more, you would be the best player on the training pitch every day, the first one in, the last to leave’. As always, I take my part of responsibility.”

It’s another day, another challenge for Harris. Defeat at Newport piles extra pressure on Gillingham's trip to Crawley. It's a game in hand for the Gills around those teams at the bottom end of League 2.

Harris said: “I enjoy challenges, I have always been a winner, I enjoy a fight. Everything I have had on the pitch and off the pitch I have had to fight for, that doesn’t change and that represents the clubs that I have managed, Gillingham, Millwall, Cardiff, I am a fighter.

“I will prepare and this hurts, I will prepare diligently for Tuesday, I will do my job for Tuesday, I (will have spent) all day Sunday watching games, preparing for Crawley and setting up my players to prepare properly.

“It is a massive game of football and the players have to realise they are playing for their futures, it might sound a bit harsh to them but damn right they are, at the moment, they are playing for their futures at this football club and in the Football League.”

Harris took over the Gills at the end of January, picking up the pieces after a 7-2 home loss to Oxford United. They were second from bottom in League 1 back then. Ten months on and now they are second bottom in League 2 and there are real concerns the club could follow other established league sides in recent years that have dropped into non-league and out of sight.

Harris has to lift his players again after Saturday’s poor performance at Newport, resulting in a 2-0 loss. The manager will be hoping his brutal words at the weekend will give his players a kick in the right direction. They can't sink much lower. It’s four straight defeats in League 2 now with no goals scored in any of them.

Harris said: “We were struggling in League 1 and now we are struggling in League 2. It is a similar challenge isn’t it?

“I care and I don’t like losing. It is tough to take. I take responsibility and first thing I do when I (sat) on that coach (from Newport) is I ask, ‘did I pick the right team, did I pick the right tactics?’ then I watch the game back and the goals and think ‘what do you want me to do about that?!’

“I look at the chances created and chances missed, what can I do about that? I look at what I can control and the challenge is as hard today as it was when I took over 10 months ago.”