Hoping for a lucky break

It´s great to be back in action at last and hopefully I can now play a part in helping to keep the Gills in the Championship.

Having come on for the last couple of minutes at Wolves last Saturday, followed by a good 25 minutes against West Ham on Tuesday night, I´m feeling much fitter and stronger, and would be ready to start on Saturday against Wigan. In fact, I´m desperate to get 90 minutes of action under my belt.

My return to action against Wolves was certainly tainted by Wolves´ last-gasp equaliser. I´d come on to the pitch having just taken the lead in the 90th minute and just as the lads were looking to take a vital three points, we conceded the equaliser with pretty much the last kick of the game.

Although we would have taken a point from Molineux before kick-off, the lads were absolutely devastated in the dressing room afterwards. You would have thought we´d lost a cup final, but that just goes to show the importance of every game we´re playing from now until the end of the season. Every game is, indeed, a cup final.

The trouble with being in a relegation dogfight is that lady luck never seems to be on your side. If the Wolves result was annoying, then our 1-0 defeat in the week was equally frustrating. We had more of the play and the better chances, but just couldn´t put the ball in the back of the net. We were undone by Marlon Harewood´s early goal but, to our credit, we never gave up the fight and have got to show the same determination when leaders Wigan come to the Priestfield on Saturday.

Although I would never wish injury against a fellow professional, we had heard that Nathan Ellington and Jason Roberts were struggling to be fit and, of course, we´d love them to miss out on Saturday. For me, they are the best partnership in this division and more than capable of repeating their feats on the highest stage, if they get there. However, they both played against Coventry last night, with Nathan scoring, so we know we´ll have to be on our toes to keep him at bay.

Yet we´re still confident of pulling of a surprise result. Prior to the West Ham result, we had gone six games unbeaten at home, which included four victories. Our home performances are going to be critical to our survival, and any points we pick up on our travels will be a bonus.

Looking at the table, I think you could still say that any team in the bottom six could go down and we´ve just got to make sure it isn´t us. There are some big teams down there, the likes of Coventry and Nottingham Forest, who are new to this relegation battle, but we´ve got experience and we´re confident of staying up.