Gills keeper focussed on long term goals...
Gills goalkeeper Stuart Nelson says the squad needs to maintain the high standards they have set so far in order to stay at the top of npower League Two.
Nelson claimed his fifth clean sheet of the season against Oxford on Saturday which helped earn a 0-0 draw against Chris Wilder’s side, but the keeper says their current position means nothing if they don’t follow it up in future games.
He said: “The goalkeeper has pulled off some great saves in the first half and if one of those goes in then we’ll close the game out but it wasn’t to be.
“It gets late on in the game and they start to become a threat again and the tables are turned a bit and it turns into a good point as near the end it was backs to the wall.
“If you can’t get the winner then make sure you don’t lose or concede.
“Deep down in the players hearts we will be disappointed that we only drew but when you take a step back and look at the bigger picture it’s another unbeaten match and you can’t win every game.
“Even the best teams don’t win every game so you make sure you do your jobs and if you don’t win then the job is to keep a clean sheet and that’s what we went and did.
“Credit to all of the boys who were involved and the staff – it was a hard fought result and we have come through it and got one.
“You can’t keep banging on the door because you are then vulnerable at the back and we realised at a point that it wasn’t going to be our day.
“To get a result here, on paper, you look back at the end of the season and its points that matter.”
Nelson said all of the players are working for each other and they need to keep working hard at the training ground in order to keep momentum going.
He added: “We defend from the front and if we lose it up front we go after it. We all got in behind them so it’s a solid team and we attack as a team and defend as a team.
“At the moment its different class so we need to stick with it. It’s still early in the season and what we have done so far counts for nothing.
“It’s something to build on and it’s a step in the right direction so we just need to keep it going.
“No disrespect to Oxford but in the first half we were comfortable on the ball, we were picking our passes and I didn’t have much to do and we spent much of it in their half and we dominated them.
“We know in that dressing room that we have a good squad and we need to keep being professional, go back into training and work towards Saturday and take one game at a time and keep getting these points.
“We won’t be far off if we keep doing that come the end of the season and that’s what we are setting out to do.”
Despite being league leaders at this early stage it isn’t something the goalkeeper is overly concerned with and instead wants to take each game as it comes.
He said: “I haven’t looked at the table; I know we are top because I’m told but I haven’t rushed out to see how many points ahead we are because it counts for nothing. If you lose two games it all spins on its head so we need to keep ourselves to ourselves, keep quiet and go about our business.
“We are only just in October so no-one will get carried away – we are pretty happy with the way we are playing and you would rather be where we are rather than anyone else in the league so you can’t complain.”
Stuart was asked if he had ever been in the same position with any other clubs he has played for.
He replied: “In the past I have been up there with teams – two years with Brentford we were around the play-offs and then with Notts County we were in and around them in the second season and missed out.
“The only time I have been up there was with Hucknall in non-league and we ran away and won it. I personally don’t really look at it; it’s nice to be up there and at the present minute we are doing well but we need to continue it.
“If someone isn’t doing their job on or off the field then we will pull each other up. We are pulling in the right direction to get the end result – everyone wants to do well and I haven’t been at a club that is so wanting to do well.
“If they are not in the team they are in the gym doing extra training and that will put us in good stead for the future because come Christmas time you will need your squad and in League Two it’s about squads because there are not many big ones about.
“We don’t keep clean sheets every week or score every week but if you get one of them you won’t be far off. “