Gillingham boss Neil Harris knows his team need to start showing a killer instinct if they are to stand a chance of escaping the drop.

Missed chances proved costly on Tuesday night as they let visitors Wimbledon off the hook, the game at Priestfield ending goalless. Victory would have seen the Gills reduce the gap to safety to just two points.

This Saturday they head to Lincoln City, a team who made the play-off final last season but are now finding themselves sitting too close to the League 1 drop zone for comfort.

Harris said: “We need to find that killer instinct, don’t we? It’s the hardest part of football and the reason we have scored so few goals this season.

“Games will run out, we need to win games of football, I have known that since I have come in but what we can’t do is any more than we did (on Tuesday) other than put the ball in the net and that comes down to moments of quality, brilliance, sheer desire to score a goal or some luck.

“We didn’t have that but we had it from penalty area to penalty area which was really pleasing.

“We are seeing a team completely structured and organised and with a fight and I can only take one step at a time.

“I was really proud of my players (on Tuesday night) but we just lacked a moment of scoring a goal, we have come a long way in a short space of time. We didn’t get the goal but it was a positive performance.

“There is that tinge of disappointment because we could have closed that gap but when I watch the game back I will really enjoy watching my team, loads we can improve on, of course there is, but I can’t expect too much from the team in six games.

“We will get better and we have seen another improvement with the ball again. We gave little away other than on the counter attack and we are not conceding a lot.

“I said to the players it was a performance to build off, it is seven points from four games at Priestfield and we have to follow that performance up with a real good performance at Lincoln on Saturday.”

Lincoln were beaten 3-1 by Bolton Wanderers on Tuesday and are five points above the relegation zone, having won just once in their last six games with a points return in those games that is less than the Gills in Harris’ first six in charge.

*Gillingham will head to Margate on Tuesday night (March 1) for a Kent Senior Cup second round match. Kick-off at Hartsdown Park is 7.45pm. The winners will play either Dartford or Dover in the quarter-finals, with their match taking place on Tuesday, March 8.