Aaron Chapman believes the squad has the fight and desire needed to get out of the bottom four.
Gills keeper Aaron Chapman is feeling confident ahead of tonight’s home fixture with Cambridge United and says that their recent performances show they have the stomach for a relegation scrap.
Following a gritty victory over Crewe in Neil Harris’ first game in charge, a rejuvenated Gillingham played on the front foot against Ipswich last Tuesday, controlled the pace of the game, struck the post twice, and were, somehow, desperately unlucky to lose 1-0. The stopper has taken heart from the display however and insists that the boys at ME7 won’t need picking up as they know they have the mettle to survive.
Speaking ahead of this evening’s Sky Bet League One clash with the U’s, Chapman said: “We were gutted not to get anything out of the game against Ipswich, but the performance was there. We have to take the positives out of it. With a performance like that, we all believe we are going to get out of the situation we are in.
“We have a team of good footballers. If we keep working hard, we are going to pick up points. We wouldn’t be turning up to games if we didn’t think we aren’t going to get out of this.”
It seems everyone is enjoying the positivity that Harris has brought into the Club, but nobody more so than Chapman who has been entrusted as the team’s last line of defence by the new boss.
“The new manager has been good,” said Chapman. “He’s a breath of fresh air. All the boys have taken to him. You can see it in our performances. That’s after just a few training sessions with the new manager. A couple more sessions and we will be firing on all cylinders.
“I just love playing football and hopefully the performances continue and we can move up this league. It’s great to have that competition for the goalkeeping jersey. When Jamie was here we had that competition. Pontus Dahlburg Is a great goalkeeper and we are just keeping each other on our toes. It’s like a keepers' union, every keeper gets on with each other.
“The fans are going to be massively important, we need them as much as anything. Hopefully they can get behind the lads and we can give them a performance to be proud of. If we put in a performance against Cambridge like we did against Ipswich then hopefully we will get the points.”