Gareth Ainsworth is anticipating a difficult afternoon as Gillingham travel to the Peninsula Stadium to take on promotion-chasing Salford City on Saturday afternoon.
The Gills boss touched upon the quality that this weekend's opponents possess, but is confident that his team will be giving everything that they have to stifle Salford, as they look to back up their strong results over the Easter weekend.
There was a positive for Ainsworth heading into Saturday, with Armani Little returning to training on Thursday. The club captain, who was forced off in the win against Accrington due to a serious finger injury, is raring to get back on the pitch. However, the Gillingham manager acknowledges they will have to see how things go before making a decision on his availability.
Ronan Hale and Seb Palmer-Houlden have led the line for Gillingham in recent weeks, and Ainsworth touched upon the solid partnership they have already built. The 52-year-old also discussed the importance of utilising different partnerships in attack, as a way of becoming less predictable.
Getting back to winning ways...
Winning a game is brilliant, and you keep going back to getting your stronger players back, but I was really impressed with a couple of youngsters and some good performances by a couple of people that aren't regulars in the team. It was great to see. But we needed that. A home win is always nice in front of the fans, and the Easter weekend has turned what was becoming a tough situation.
It was nice to have that win. For the boys, my staff and especially the fans, it was great to have a win at Priestfield. I thought that we were dominant on Monday, especially.
On the tough test on Saturday...
I don't think that anyone is going to be surprised to say how my teams play and how my teams are. We are not going to stop scrapping and trying. Salford have got some quality. They spent quite a bit of money in the window to bring a striker in and a couple of other people.
They have got some talented youngsters, and they have actually changed shape for the last few games, which is something that we will look at to see what Karl [Robinson] is going to do against us.
They have been a solid top-six outfit all season, and it is no surprise to see them in the play-offs. It looks like they are going to finish in the play-offs or automatics, and we want a say in that on Saturday. We want to try and take all three points.
Update on Armani Little...
He has surprised me, Armani. He had a nasty finger injury, believe me. We are privy to having a look at doctors' reports and things like that. It was a nasty one with a dislocation and a slice. I think that one of the modern-day boots has sliced him down to the tendons and things like that, and I actually feared the worst for him, but Marns has rocked up this morning [Thursday], almost got a plaster on it, and says that he is ready to go again.
That is the type of character I want, and that is the type of character that he is. There is a little bit more than a plaster on it, but he wants to see the season out.
For me, we will see how he is over the next couple of days, but so far, so good.
Utilising different forward combinations...
It is just not having to rely on a target man all the time. I think that we got a little bit one-dimensional with the target man. I think that we got too predictable. I like being able to play both ways. We haven't mastered that yet, so playing one way and then another way is great. We have the two ways of playing.
Ronan [Hale] is going to be a pest at any level in any formation. He is just a driven individual that wants to win games, and he will do anything to win. His runs, his sharpness, his touch, and his finishing ability are all top drawer.
He is going to be great with that. Seb [Palmer-Houlden] is still a young lad, but those two have linked up really well. They are two sorts of runners that can run defences. Then, with Garath McCleary or Bradley Dack behind, you have got some real experience to thread balls through and create chances.
Lenni Cirino played high on the wing the other day, and I thought that he did well.
Then, we have got Josh [Andrews] and Sam Vokes, who bring something totally different, so I like having that. I really do like having that.
