Gillingham defender Sam Gale reflects on a season of personal achievement but a disappointing campaign for the team in League Two

Gillingham defender Sam Gale says there is “a real fire in the belly” to put things right next season.

The 21-year-old, who has just completed his first full season as a senior professional and was named Gillingham’s young player-of-the-season for the second year running, has spoken about the frustration inside the squad and his determination to help spark a turnaround at Gillingham.

Despite the personal recognition, Gale insists that team success is the only focus moving forward.

“I was pleased to have picked up personal awards,” said Gale. “But, ultimately, much more concerned about us having a more positive season as a team next year.”

Asked whether he would swap individual honours for collective success, his answer was unequivocal.

“Yes, 100%. It’s very disappointing sitting here now with the season done, knowing how it went, and trying to put your finger on where it could have gone wrong, and where we could have picked up more points, and where we could have done better, and games where we missed opportunities. It’s really frustrating, especially with how the season started.”

He added: “There’s a real fire in the belly to make sure we get it right next year.”

Looking ahead, Gale believes Gillingham’s challenge is turning competitive performances into consistent results, pointing to a number of narrow defeats and momentum swings throughout the season.

He said: “I think we’ll show intent to get up the league and we hope to be in and around that top seven and really show some progress.

“There’s frustration because we know that this season we could go toe-to-toe with teams and small moments took games away from us, even the Grimsby game most recently. We were in that game, we should have gone ahead and then we end up