Gills defender hoping the team can reward the fans for their excellent backing during 2021/22.
Jack Tucker is refusing to use Gillingham’s growing injury list as an excuse and said, “it’s time to put on a performance” against Cheltenham tonight.
The Gills have been plagued by an injury crisis which has left manager Steve Evans with a depleted team and a selection headache. Ahead of tonight’s Sky Bet League One clash with Cheltenham, Tucker insists the players who are available have a responsibility to go out and give it everything.
The defender, speaking with the local press, said: “We have a job to do and that is to go out there and put in a performance for the Gills fans who spend their hard-earned money to support us. We are players and we just want to play football and win some games. We are capable of holding our own and being a lot higher up in the league, but we need to earn the right to be there. It’s all about putting our strategies on the pitch and trying to win some more games.”
The two sides are meeting for the fourth time this season, having been pitted against each other in the Carabao Cup and FA Cup. Two of the meetings have ended in a draw and one in a narrow defeat for the Gills who were eliminated from both competitions. The 22-year-old played down any talk of a rivalry between the two sides but admitted it would feel good to finally taste victory over the Robins.
He said: “We know all about them and have played them a few times this season. We will know what to expect from them. We are low on numbers but that is no excuse to not go out there and give it one hundred percent.
"Whoever is on the pitch needs to deliver a performance for the Gills fans because they have made a couple of away trips this week and unfortunately we haven’t given them anything to go home with. We appreciate their support and they have been brilliant all season; hopefully we will be able to repay them tonight.
“Our games with Cheltenham have been battles and they have been fighters out on the pitch. We know about them as a team, it is our fourth game against them this year, so they know all about us too. It will be like a chess match, just trying to unlock each other. We haven’t beaten them yet, so it would be nice to get one over on them. It’s not a personal thing; we want to win every game and this one is no different.”