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Gillingham manager Mark Stimson says his team need to keep their focus during relegation battle

Gillingham manager Mark Stimson
Gillingham manager Mark Stimson

By Luke Cawdell

Gillingham manager Mark Stimson was delighted with the win over Leeds last weekend but remains focused on the bigger picture – keeping his side in League 1.

With most of The Gills’ relegation-rivals also winning on Saturday, Stimson’s side finished the weekend as they started it, just three points off the bottom four.

The gap remained on Tuesday night as Brentford's late winner against Tranmere kept Gillingham's rivals in the bottom four. With the Gills also having a far superior goal difference that gap is effectively four points with three matches left.

This weekend’s trip to promoted Norwich is followed by the arrival of big-spending play-off outsiders Southampton and a final trip away to Wycombe – another team scrapping for their lives at the wrong end of the division.

Stimson, pictured, said: “Leeds was a big result, because we were playing against a big side, but it won’t be anywhere near as high as if we maintain our status in this division. That would be way way beyond anything I’ve achieved so far.

“You go back afterwards and look on the television (for the results) and think ‘argh’ but it’s another game down towards that finishing line.

“We just need to maintain what we’ve been doing recently because, take the Millwall game out of it, we haven’t been too bad and that’s what we’ve got to do for the remainder of the season.

“If we win our games then nothing will change and it will be a fantastic season. But let’s not forget who we are playing. We go to Norwich who have gone up and then (host) Southampton who, in the last 20/25 games, have been very close to Leeds and Norwich.

“It’s not going to be easy but the three points were nice on Saturday.”

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