Gillingham play top League 2 sides Northampton, Stockport, Leyton Orient, Bradford and Salford in final weeks of the season

Gillingham are all-but safe and now manager Neil Harris wants to see how his team cope against the leading contenders in League 2.

The Gills play five of the top eight in their last six matches - a spell of games that Harris will get to learn plenty from ahead of a summer where he’ll be looking to add more players ahead of a promotion push.

A home match against second placed Northampton Town tomorrow (Monday) is the start of a tough run-in for the Gills and Harris said: “The last six games of the season, we can really attack, it is a huge challenge for us and what we have achieved so far in the last 17 games is magnificent, the best team in the league since we started (with a new-look team) in January.

“The next six games I am going to put into an isolated spell and see what we can achieve in that period, individually, performance wise and results wise, because it will help me and the football club to make a lot of decision moving forward as to what we maybe need to recruit in the summer window.”

Gills’ tough run continues next Saturday (April 15) against promotion chasing Stockport County at Priestfield before leaders Leyton Orient come to town on Tuesday, April 18 - possibly with the title within their grasp. Away games at play-off hopes Bradford City (April 22) and Salford City (May 8) conclude the season, with a home match against 17th place Newport County (April 29) sandwiched inbetween.

“Results show that we are competing in every game,” said the manager. “That is why I am really looking forward to the next six games, even Newport, they are a really good League 2 outfit. It is not just about the quality that they maybe lack, because they can’t afford to sign the top players financially, but they have a lot of