Gillingham manager Gareth Ainsworth says final fixtures of League 2 campaign will be used to assess entire squad

Gillingham boss Gareth Ainsworth is treating the final few games as a “free hit” for him as he looks to see which players he wants to keep with him next season.

The Gills, with five games left, moved onto 47 points after Tuesday’s night 1-1 draw at Chesterfield - a sixth straight stalemate for the team, with four of those coming since Ainsworth took charge.

With their League 2 status all-but-assured, Ainsworth is using the final fixtures to experiment. They host MK Dons on Saturday, a team who, like themselves, have underperformed this season.

Ainsworth said: “I’ve got some real good decisions to make now for the squad going forward. I want to have a good look at the squad now.

“I’m sure we’re pretty safe. That’s one thing ticked off. The second thing was to be hard to beat. Emptying the tank and that togetherness.

“I’m really pleased, and I said to the boys [after Tuesday’s game], ‘I can work with this. I can definitely work with this group because of what you’ve shown me over the last four games’.

“This is a brilliant position to have a look at my squad, in the last five games and go, ‘right, what do I want to do? What do I need?’.

“I think it's a brilliant move from the Galinsons, getting me in [at the end of the season]. It was a wrench leaving Shrewsbury. We all know that and we talk about that. But getting me out of my contract there, that was a fair deal done.

“I’m really pleased to have a look at the club, and next season I want to start this build and this journey that we talk about, and in two years’ time, I’m telling you now, we won’t be sat 19th in the table. We will be in a different position.

“I know what I can do, but I don’t want to overpromise anything. I just want to get this club sorted, get it moving