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Gillingham travel to lowly Harrogate for the first time this Saturday but midfielder George Lapslie is well aware of the tough challenge that awaits.
Lapslie’s old team Mansfield lost 3-0 at the EnviroVent Stadium in November and although the midfielder netted against them last season in the EFL Trophy his former team still came away with a 3-1 defeat. If Mansfield have struggled, the Gills will know the task in North Yorkshire won’t be an easy one.
Lapslie said: “They are a good team, every time we played them at Mansfield we struggled. We played them six times and didn’t beat them.
“We aren’t going to go there and walk all over them, no chance, they will be a good outfit and we won’t expect anything less.
"The goal I scored at Harrogate is probably the worst goal you’ve ever seen. I am just glad we are going there on a Saturday because when you go there on an evening the lights are so bright you can’t see what’s going on!
“It’s quality that we’ve sold the away allocation out and hopefully we will make it a good day for everyone.”
The Gills were allocated 600 tickets for the match on Saturday and all have been snapped up.
Harrogate are in a worse position than the Gills, just five points clear of the relegation zone.
The Gills lost 2-0 to Bradford City at Priestfield on Tuesday night. It was a blow but Lapslie is keen to move on.
He said: “If someone said to me we would win either Tuesday (against Bradford) or Saturday (at Harrogate), 100% I would pick Saturday. We are in a dogfight with them at the minute, it is a real six-pointer for us.
“We have to learn from Tuesday but it’s gone and we have to focus on Saturday, there is nothing we can do to change it, there will be a response on Saturday we hope.
“Bradford have a good chance for top three, them and Mansfield and Stockport are playing decent enough football that they should have enough to get into the top three, they are a good team for this division.
“It’s not so much as a set-back, if you would have said we would have the wins we have had since January (six from nine games), anyone would have bitten your arm off. We are still on a very good run, still up there in the form table.
“One result doesn't change everything, we are not going to be changing everything, we will just try and be more effective and hopefully it drops for us more on Saturday.
“It is a much more important game than Tuesday, that’s for sure. We are in a dogfight with them at the minute and it’s a real six pointer. If we win that on Saturday we will leave ourselves in a good position.
“There is no hiding from the fact it is a massive one on Saturday.”
