Gillingham v Crewe preview: Manager Neil Harris looks ahead to League 2 match at Priestfield

Manager Neil Harris insists there won’t be a knee-jerk reaction to Saturday’s disappointing display.

Since mid-January his new-look side have quickly pulled clear of relegation trouble but he expected a few bumps in the road. A 2-0 weekend loss to Walsall was certainly one of those.

Tonight the Gills get a chance to prove it was a blip when they host a Crewe side who sit 18th in League 2 - four points better off than the Harris’ side - but without an away win in four months.

Crewe’s last win on the road - one of only two away successes this season - came at Swindon on November 19. The three wins from their last 18 games in the league have all come at home.

Talking about his own side, Harris said: “We are still in an extremely healthy position in the league but we need to make sure it stays that way and we do that by having better standards to training than what I saw last Thursday.”

The Gills boss had been critical of the training leading up to that game at Walsall.

Harris continued: “I have had my critical say and my positive say. I have to pick the right team for Tuesday night, then in some ways as a manager you pick your team, slip out of the changing room and say, ‘come on lads, it is now about you’.

“They have done it brilliantly, they have done it in training sessions, they have done it in games, done it as a group and now ‘come on, let’s do it again.’

“There is an opportunity to freshen up, to change, to change shape, whatever I want to do, yes of course the options are there, what I will remind myself is that these lads have done great, no knee jerk.

“It was important that I let them know how I feel after a game, with the right context, and I have done that. Then it becomes about quickly switching my attention to