Steve Lovell isn’t hoping for a response from his Gillingham team on Saturday, he’s demanding one.

Back-to-back disappointing home performances have left the Gillingham still looking over their shoulder and they head to mid-table Bristol Rovers four points clear of the League 1 relegation zone.

With two matches to play, Gills boss Lovell won’t accept another below-par showing.

Lovell said: “We have two massive games coming up now. The next two games have to be must results for us.

“We owe the supporters two very good performances. It is not a matter of ‘I hope we do’ – we must do it, for me to be satisfied with the work that we have done and to finish it off.”

A run of eight games without a win has left the Gills looking over their shoulder and the pressure is now on.

Lovell will be looking to see which of the players can cope.

He said: “It is a shame that it has come to this after the middle part of the season but it has to be done now, the players have to show me if they are big enough and strong enough to put up with it.

“Only time will tell that. When they cross that line they have to show the character and fight which they have shown for most of the season.

“Going forward we are going to be in a lot of situations hopefully at the other end of the table where you are under pressure, but it's the same principle and that is something we have got to look at, whether people's mental approach is strong enough. It starts on Saturday.”

Many of the players are fighting for new deals but Lovell is only thinking about the team.

Asked if it was make of break for some, he said: “They shouldn't be looking at that, they should just be looking at getting a result and whether it is make or break for them I'm not bothered.

"All I am concentrating on is putting out a team that is going to perform on Saturday, to roll up their sleeves and give everything for the cause and for the club because that is what is needed.

“It is a massive couple of weeks coming up for us. Two wins from the next two games would be a nice way to finish off the season and would go some way to putting right what has gone wrong in the last three or four weeks."