Gillingham assistant manager Scott Barrett has called on the players to maintain the high standards which guided them to victory on Monday.

The Gills dominated the second half against Southend and won at a canter. Barrett now wants that to continue in the remaining six games of the season.

Barrett said: “We try and preach to the players to play football. Some times it can be difficult when you are down at the wrong end but we always preach to play decent football.

“In the second half on Monday people saw the kind of football we are capable of. That’s the way we want to continue for the rest of the season.

“What frustrates us is that we don’t perform like that away from home. Our home record is the best in the league and our away is probably the worst. There is no rhyme or reason to it.

“There have been games where things haven’t gone for us. The manager and myself and the coach Mark Robson always demand hundred per cent effort and I think some of the lads have let themselves down a bit in recent games in that department, but there was no way you could level that at them on Monday – they were outstanding.”

Barrett will now be seeking that same quality and commitment in an end of season fixture list that pits the Gills against the division’s top sides.

He said: “The players should be up for every game, whether it’s Millwall or playing Accrington in the cup.

“The big games seem to bring out a bit extra in players. We’ve got a few big games coming up and we are all looking forward to it.

“Those big games are the whole reason we want to stay in this division, we want to play against big sides like that. We don’t want to drop down a division and miss out on the big teams.

“There are big teams that are going to drop down against next season from the Championship and they are the games we want to be involved in and as players they are what they want to be playing in.”