Jewell - It's vital that we keep picking up the points

Last updated : 01 March 2004 By Paul Farrington

"Like Walsall, Gillingham are fighting for their lives and are a very difficult side to play against. What's more, they're a very hard club to visit and come away with a result and to be honest I've never got a result there yet. Hopefully I'm due one tomorrow night though. We kept going against Walsall in a tough game to get a result at the weekend and we'll need more of the same on Tuesday night.

"We've done well away from home of late and if we go down there with the right attitude and play to our strengths, we have it in ourselves to continue our good run. It's vital that we keep picking up the points as there are only five between third place and eighth and we need to keep ahead of the chasing pack. Getting a result will also keep us in touch with the two teams above us and that's obviously important too.

"We're not talking about promotion here and we never will it's not our style, but I did get a bit frustrated when I drove home from the game on Saturday night. To be honest it probably suits us not to be talked up in terms of going up, but listening to the radio on the way home after the Walsall game I actually thought our game had been postponed!

"The Norwich Sunderland postponement was mentioned, West Brom's defeat, West Ham's win, Ipswich's win and Millwall continuing their good form but there was barely a mention of the team in third place. I must confess I'm not overly bothered as I always play things down, but I do feel the players deserve more credit that they get and also the club as a whole. I know nationally people don't see us staying the course, but we're up there on merit at the moment and it would just be nice for the players to gain the recognition that their efforts deserve.

"Having said that, getting little recognition certainly suited us last season and with that being the case again this time round, hopefully we can continue to quietly go about our business and continue the work we're doing right until the end of the season."

"Steve McMillan picked up an injury post match on Saturday doing some running and he'll not make the trip and our only other worry is Jason De Vos. He got a kick on the calf and missed training on Monday morning but we expect him to be OK to play on Tuesday.

"We know it'll be a difficult game down at Gillingham and I have great admiration for the job Andy's doing. I could never have been a player manager as it's hard enough doing just one job, but Andy seems to have taken to the job well and is doing good things down there. Arguably he's still there best player too and that makes the job he is doing all the more remarkable.

"Gillingham are a side no-one likes playing against as they work very hard and will never give up. They showed here at the JJB what they're all about and we were fortunate to win that game with an Andy Liddell penalty and we will have to show the same levels of commitment on Tuesday. To be fair to our players though, they rarely shirk a challenge and I'm sure Gillingham know they'll be in for a tough game too.

"If we play anywhere near as well as we can we have every chance of getting a result but as I said before, that will only happen if our atttitude is absolutely spot on."

Quotes from wiganathletic.tv