Gillingham manager Gareth Ainsworth is looking forward to the Boxing Day fixture against Cambridge United.
Friday’s visitors, managed by former Gills boss Neil Harris, head to ME7 on a good run of form, and Ainsworth expects a tough game against a hard-working team.
Ainsworth is hoping to see some reinforcements return to the matchday squad, believing they will make a positive impact on the pitch, as he looks forward to having a wider pool of players to select from.
The Gills boss also discussed the plans for his squad heading into Friday’s fixture.
Previewing Cambridge…
Hopefully, we can get the points, because tactically they will be very organised. They work incredibly hard, and that’s a Neil Harris side. It’s nice when people talk about the manager and what his side is like, because that’s an identity. I have heard myself talked about in that vein, and that is great because your teams represent you. Neil’s teams will definitely be solid and will work hard.
They are in a good place at the moment. They have had a good run and have changed their shape, sort of mid-season, and I think that it has worked well and paid dividends for them.
We are fully expecting a tough game on Boxing Day, which it should be. We are looking forward to hosting Cambridge, and I want all three points. We’re at home and have had a tough run over the last six games. We should have put a couple of those games to bed without a shadow of a doubt. Hopefully, we can put this one to bed.
Having players return ahead of the busy festive period…
We’re getting back to a good amount of players in the squad. I’m not going to name any names, but all I will say is that I am looking forward to picking from a decent squad.
We have had a lot of injuries recently. I think that the tally went up to 13 at one stage, and that was a lot. As I said recently, losing your best players in your best positions hurts anybody. Not just Gillingham, but it certainly hurt us. I am looking forward to having the options now.
Hopefully, there will be four players coming back from the treatment room that will potentially come into the squad. There are all sorts of caveats on that, with how much they have trained and how much they have done, but I think that we will be looking good over the next few weeks.
The schedule heading into Boxing Day…
With the squad increasing, it is brilliant to see so many of them out there today, and I am looking forward to seeing what we get done tomorrow [Christmas Eve]. The lads will have Christmas Day off, and I expect them to behave and not have too many selection boxes and things like that!
They will certainly be carving up with the Christmas meal, but I know that will pay me back on Boxing Day when they come in and have been with their families, but they know that on Boxing Day, they will have to give me absolutely everything. That’s a given.
