Conor McManus is looking towards Gillingham's trip to Shrewsbury Town this Saturday.
The left wing-back discussed the week the squad have had as they go in search of a positive response following the defeat to Grimsby, acknowledging how much work they have done on the training pitch.
The 22-year-old is enjoying his time with the Gills, having signed in the summer, and credited the environment that the coaching staff and his teammates have cultivated as a big reason. McManus has appreciated the trust he has already been shown, but realises he has a long way to go in his early playing career.
McManus is already off the mark, scoring in the 1-1 draw with Northampton earlier in the season, and also scored for the Republic of Ireland Under-21s in their victory against England earlier in the month. He is hopeful that he can become a bigger threat in the final third as the season develops.
On needing a response following the Grimsby defeat...
We will hold our hands up; the second-half performance was nowhere near the level that we set for ourselves. That's something going forward that we need to look at, but we have done an incredible amount of work on the training pitch over the last couple of days. The energy around the camp has been really good. We are annoyed, we are frustrated, and we looked back and learned from it, but a switch kind of flipped in our heads where we thought to ourselves that we need to get the energy going here because we have another massive game coming this weekend.
Settling into life in ME7...
It has been class. I have been incredibly lucky and incredibly blessed to have landed in the situation that I am in. From the coaching staff to the players, I don't think that they could have been any better with me since I walked in the door. I felt that kind of full faith in me. I think that they have always had that full trust in me, and as a young player, I think that it is massive. For me personally, walking in and knowing that they have that trust in me has allowed me to play the football that I want to do.
Listen, by no means do I think that I am the finished article. In my opinion, I am miles off it, so I am excited to keep working hard, but I am excited to see what direction I take and just keep improving and keep learning. All experiences are good experiences, whether they are good or bad, so you can take something and learn from it. That's the main thing.
On contributing in the final third...
It speaks to the hard work not only the Irish Under-21s team have done, but Gills as well, where I can put myself in positions where I can score goals. It is something that I have maybe not had the chance to do in the past, but it is something that I am looking forward to doing in the future which is improving my forward statistics.
There is always something that you can improve on. I want to get more goals, and I want to get more assists. I want to help the team going forward as much as I can help them going backwards. It's all about learning and improving.
His experience playing for the Republic of Ireland Under-21s...
[His goal vs England] - It was a topic of conversation when I came back! It was an unbelievable moment and an unbelievable game. I was happy to get the result.
It put us in a superb place. It got us into the play-offs, which I think it would be the second time in history. It is Finland in the next one, so I am looking forward to that. It should be another tough test. Hopefully, we get the result out of that.
