More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
Gillingham manager Neil Harris has told his squad to follow Elkan Baggott’s lead.
The on-loan Ipswich defender was again the stand-out performer for goalshy Gills in their away reverse at Doncaster on Saturday.
Results are not breeding confidence within the squad - they’ve won just twice in League 2 all season - so players need to raise their levels individually to help the collective cause.
“If you don’t get confidence as a group from results, how do you get it individually? The manager picking you,” said Harris.
“We’ve got a small squad so everyone gets an opportunity, they get a gameplan so they know roles and responsibility and then somewhere along the line you need players to find that confidence and form themselves.
“You need a centre-forward to score a goal, to get in the right positions. I can’t always tell a centre-forward where to run, what to do. It has to be natural instincts sometimes.
“Elkan Baggott was immense, the best player on the pitch by a country mile. He got in the way of blocks, tackles, won his headers - where does he get that from?
“He found himself out of the team for a couple of games, he came back in and scored a couple of goals and he’s played well again today. He’s found that himself, all I’ve done is given him the platform by putting him in the team.
“By managing players, trying to give them that arm around the shoulder, telling some players that I need more because some need a rocket, so I have to manage the group. But ultimately once the players go over that white line, they have to find that themselves.
“Football doesn’t change from playing step 7 in Kent Senior League and playing in front of 5,000 (at Doncaster) or 80,000 at Old Trafford.
“When you go on that pitch it’s your responsibility as a player to produce, to produce a gameplan that the manager gives you but to find that confidence and arrogance at times, find the ability to defend or score a goal, you have to find that yourself.
“I did as a player and a lot of good players that have represented this club have done it over the years. That’s the challenge for the group now.
“I am here to support, advise and coach but when they go on that pitch I’m with them every step of the way as a group but individually they’ve got to give me more.”
