Steve Evans hopes his side's performances will be rewarded with more points in upcoming games.
Gillingham Manager Steve Evans says he respects Saturday’s opposition Oxford United after they eliminated Premier League side West Ham in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday evening, however admitted that the Gills are adapting to League One after difficult fixtures against the likes of Coventry and Ipswich so far this season.
Speaking on Thursday morning the Manager said: “We respect them [Oxford] but we don’t fear them. Our performances recently deserve a lot more than we have been getting but that happens in football.
“They have a big budget this year and they have a focus on having a good campaign.
“We believe in the dressing room and we will work hard for each other. Margins are tight, sometimes it is clearing the ball with a header or taking your chances, looking back at the Ipswich game if Max Ehmer scores then that is a different game.”
Despite fine margins playing a crucial part in the Gills results so far, Evans was adamant he spends more time overlooking the overall displays.
He added: “It is the overall performances you have to look at and in recent games against Ipswich and Bristol Rovers we have had a lot of the ball which we can take confidence from.
“We want to get the first win away from home, of course we do, but at the end of the season it doesn’t matter where your points come from but it would be nice to get that first away win on Saturday.”
Ahead of the visit to the Kassam Stadium, Evans revealed only Matty Willock continues to be unavailable for his side.
“Apart from Matty Willock we have everyone available. Matty suffered a clash of knees and is suffering from a lot of bruising but I am hoping he could be back within 10 days.
“He is a top player and we miss him at the moment, players like Ben Pringle we will look at on Friday and see how he is coming along for sharpness and we hoped to play him in a game on Tuesday, but unfortunately it got rained off so we didn’t get a chance to see him.”
The Manager’s pre-match interview in full can be seen on iFollow.