Steve Lovell feels Gillingham are going to League 1 new boys Accrington Stanley at just the right time.

Gills travel to face Stanley, who were promoted as League 2 champions, on the opening day of the season.

John Coleman’s side are sure to be on a high for the August 4 clash but Lovell has welcomed the chance to get at them early.

The Gills boss said: “It is the best time to play them, they went up as champions last year, there will be a decent crowd.

“It doesn’t matter who it is, as a player you can’t wait for that first game of the season to start and it will soon go, those six weeks, it will fly by.

“It is a good place to go early on, it will give us an idea of what the league is going to be like.”

Gills face the three relegated Championship sides in their first six fixtures, with home games against Burton (August 11) and favourites Sunderland (August 21) and a trip to Barnsley (September 1).

They entertain Portsmouth at Priestfield on Boxing Day and finish the campaign at Blackpool (May 4).

Lovell said: “You tend to look at it in batches. The first month, the last month and Christmas, they are the three little blocks.

“The first month is important to get off to a good start and Christmas it is about the travelling and the preparation of the boys.

“The last month is the run-in but you can’t tell where those teams will be in the league.

“Look at Shrewsbury, nobody thought they might be top of the league last season, a great job they did.

“We will plan for every game, do our homework and hopefully get a result.”

Gillingham won only six league games at Priestfield last season and Lovell is out to improve that record.

He said: “Most important is here at home and making sure that we do better.

“One thing we want to improve on from last year, it is obvious to anyone, is winning more games at home.

“We drew too many at home. If we can turn half of them into wins then we will have a much better season.”