Martin Allen says there will be no let up for final league game
Martin Allen says there is still plenty to play for in the final game against Burton on Saturday and insists everyone involved wants to end the season with three points.
The Gills clinched the league title last weekend after a 2-2 draw with AFC Wimbledon, and Martin will use the opportunity at the Pirelli Stadium to field some of his younger players.
He said: “I don’t agree that there is nothing on the game, we trained Thursday morning for two hours and had all of the players in on Wednesday morning for a half an hour warm down following the game on Tuesday.
“Trust me, we want to win and there has been no easing off the gas.
“All our subs from Saturday are playing. Danny East has hurt his thigh in training so he can’t play which means another young lad has to come in.
“Mahlon Romeo is a first year scholar, so is Muggleton and Grant is the lad we have got on loan from Sheffield Wednesday. Forecast has been fantastic all season, Davies has been champing at the bit, Allen is as fit as a butcher’s dog.
“Grant against Brentford was superb a couple of days ago and the best player in our team. We are going to put a team out, there is no messing about and that was spelled out in no uncertain terms on Thursday morning.
“Adam Barrett came in on Monday with a bit of a thigh problem – he could play if it was necessary but I don’t care about anyone else, all I care about is winning the game, extending our lead at the top of the league and getting as many points as we can.
“We are not going to play Legge because he has had a hamstring problem – Tommy Forecast has come on loan from a Premier League club so that’s a no brainer.
“We’ll have to see them play, trust me this is not a testimonial. This is not a friendly – these players will be coming out on the front foot and will be ready to go. The senior players have done their job, they have done what we set out to achieve.”
Martin conceded he had wanted to play some of his younger players a few weeks ago, but is adamant they will put on a good show for the travelling fans.
He said: “There is a relief, there is a happiness and a feeling that the job has been done. We all want hungry people with attitude going in to play, and these players have got a lot to play for trust me.
“This is a big game for a lot of our players – they know it, our supporters know it and we are ready.
“I wanted to do this a few weeks ago – the only disappointment is that we haven’t been able to do that to give these players, who have had a tough time, a reward and a taste of what life is about.
“We have got 1400 supporters going up there and we will make sure that we put on a proper team performance.”
To watch Martin’s pre-match press conference click here.