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More on KentOnline
Dean Parrett believes it’s been a season of underachievement – for himself and Gillingham.
Injuries have stopped the midfielder reaching his full potential and they’ve hindered the Gills’ hopes of competing at the top of end of League 1, too.
Parrett believes there is plenty of talent in the team to be competing higher up the table.
He said: “It is nice to know we are safe and going into the last game we can relax and show people what we can do without any pressure on our backs.
“It would be nice next year to have some ambition and maybe push for that top half, that top six.
“I feel that we have underachieved this year, for sure. There is a lot of talent in that dressing room and we should have done better. We have to go away in the summer and look at ourselves.
“Injuries didn’t help, we had a lot of injuries over the season, important people as well.
“As a League 1 side we haven’t got 20-odd players like a Manchester City where it is like for like. In League 1 you only have a certain amount of players. If we can keep our core fit next season then we can definitely push for it.”
Parrett picked up a hamstring injury early on in the campaign, slipping on the Priestfield surface, and he struggled to bounce back.
He said: “It has been a disappointing season for me, personally. I would have liked to play quite a few more games.
“I feel when I have played and I have got my fitness I have done okay but it’s been a bit up and down.
“I can do well here. The injuries have slowed me down and that hasn’t allowed me to get my consistency going.
“When I have had back-to-back games I feel I have been getting stronger, fitter, sharper and my mental side of the game has been picking up, but I would pick up an injury which would leave me out for a couple of games and it is like trying to build that back up again.
“The first injury was a bit of a freak one, with the pitch, it slipped underneath my foot and I pulled a hamstring. Then my second injury was a reinjury, coming from that one slip.
“I’d had a good pre-season. I was feeling sharp, I played well the first game, second I thought I was doing well and then suddenly it went and from there it has been a uphill battle.
“It has been frustrating, but all in all I have enjoyed the year. I think we’ve done okay, obviously we would have liked to have finished higher, but the main thing was to stay in the league.
“We have one game to go and we want to finish on a high and we’ll be focused on that game. Once that game is finished we can sit back and think about summer and get ready for next year.”
