Martin warns players not to under-estimate Saturday's visitors
Martin Allen says his players will be in for another stern test when Brentford visit MEMS Priestfield Stadium on Saturday.
The Bees are undefeated in the three games they have played so far this season, and Martin will welcome his former club to Priestfield in the hope of registering the Gills first points of the league campaign.
He said: “Brentford are another great team in this division – they have good players and a good network of scouts around the country and it’s another challenge that we face.
“We all need to be on absolute top form for when these types of clubs come to us and don’t under-estimate them.
“They have invested to a different level and they are ready to compete in the Championship. We need to be ready, united and give a good account of ourselves.
“Brentford has a special place in my heart for me and my family – my mum was very ill when I was at Brentford and she was always very well looked after so I have some good memories off the field.
“On the pitch we had a very hard working group of players. It was like Phoenix form the Ashes; we found a fantastic group of players and had two magnificent years.
“I’ve always been made very welcome back there – they are hardworking, down to earth football supporters and there aren’t too many prawn sandwiches over there.
"They are my type of people and I think there are a lot of similarities to Gillingham.
“They are great football people and I love the atmosphere, the banter and the passion they create.”
wasn’t to the high standards the squad have set themselves, and is hoping for a big response from his men.Wolves last weekend at MolineuxMartin conceded that the performance against
He added: “About 1,700 fans went up there including a lot of my family and friends and we just didn’t play well. It was too easy and we need to do better than that.
“We had some good tactics; we worked on it for two or three days – you can be the best coach in the world but the key is mentality, self-belief, confidence and unity.
“All those things override tactics – when you take on these teams you have to be ready and believe in yourself that you can go out and do it.
“We need to take a step down a bit and say we didn’t play as well as we can, but let’s have a reality check and it was always going to be a tough game.
“If we had managed to keep them quiet for 20 minutes which was the plan and the crowd got on their back we probably would have done something, but not enough of us did well enough on the day to make it happen.
when one of their centre forwards is worth six million pounds, and one of the players that came on was 2.5 million.
against Wolverhampton Wanderers“We’ve only had two league games and one of them was
“Have I had sleepless nights and banging my head against the wall? Not at all. Keep it all in perspective; it happened last season at different times.
“Against Colchester we lost a good player and we had to put an 18-year old in for 85 minutes and the team gave a good account of themselves.
"We had numerous chances and were unlucky not to win– we were disappointed not to win but the supporters know that the players give everything they have got.
“If you pay your money you want to see that first and foremost.
in that, you are not always expected to win.”Bristol City“All football supporters appreciate hard work, effort and commitment – they are bright people and they have a pretty good idea that when you play Wolves and taking on clubs with budgets that are well and truly out of our league, putting
here.To watch Martin’s pre-match press conference, click