Gillingham take on Charlton Athletic this Saturday at Priestfield before hosting Millwall in another friendly on Tuesday night

Gillingham’s pre-season steps up a gear with two Championship opponents in four days.

Manager Gareth Ainsworth believes his side can hold their own against teams higher up the football pyramid.

Charlton Athletic return from a pre-season camp in Slovenia and take on the Gills at Priestfield this Saturday.

Then on Tuesday night, Millwall head to ME7, fresh from a trip to Spain.

“They are really tough games,” said the Gills boss.

“I don’t want everyone saying we’ve been beaten by two Championship sides, our season’s over.

“We definitely will be up against it in both games. Both teams have been away on trips and they’ve got their teams together.

“They’ve got a huge amount of resources and a huge amount of money to spend.

“I think you’ll see some quality players against us but there’s no reason we can’t match them and can’t come out of our shells and play above what we think we can be capable of.

“It will be tough, without a shadow of a doubt. Last season we played Luton and Reading. They came to town and were quite tough games for us but we started the season well.

“That’s all I care about, that first [league] game against Walsall.”

Gillingham fielded two different sides in each half at Dover as they kicked off pre-season with a 3-0 win against the non-league side in midweek.

“It’ll be a split group again,” said the Gills boss, looking ahead to the visit of the Addicks.

“We’ll have to get the heads together and make sure that everyone gets the right amount of minutes this pre-season.

“There were a couple who had to play with the youth [at Sheppey United on Tuesday night]. Michael Luxton was one and Cruz Beszant because there’s just not enough space.

“We’ll make sure on Saturday that we’re getting the fitness into the boys