Jack Tucker was delighted to have scored the goal that earned the Gills a point on Saturday - a week after his mistake let one slip.

The Gillingham defender wasn’t afraid to hold his hands up to the momentary lapse at Sunderland that let the hosts win the game late on. On Saturday he bounced back with a volleyed goal that earned his side a point against Wycombe Wanderers.

Commenting on his rollercoaster last two outings, Tucker said: “The gaffer spoke to me after the Sunderland game and said these things happen, I am a centre half and it will happen again in my career. It is about learning from it in the right way, being disappointed but not letting it get me down and affecting my mentality going into the last five before Saturday.

“I was disappointed going on the coach home and over the weekend but as soon as Monday came around and we were back in the changing room then it was back to working towards the Wycombe game. We moved on from that.

“I was disappointed in myself last week, but I back myself to do better. It was pretty gutting, it happened so late, but whether this is a bit of karma now going in my favour, who knows, but I will keep working hard in training and hopefully these things go in my favour between now and the end of the season.”

Nobody at the club would want to succeed more than Tucker, having been with the Gills since a young age and progressing to being a mainstay in the team.

His goal on Saturday means the Gills are level on 38 points with the two teams above them as the battle to stay in League 1 hots up.

That goal against Wycombe was special, his best so far, volleying home to send the Rainham End into raptures. His celebration wasn’t quite so classy, slipping over and ending up with pile-on.

He said: “I ended up on the deck and the boys jumped on me but I don’t get many and it is a great feeling when the ball goes in the back of the net and you hear the roar of the fans, it gives you a real buzz.

“I knew I just had to keep it down and strike it as well as I could. As soon as I hit I knew I had a chance because I caught it clean. On another day it might deflect off five people and go in, luckily it went straight in and I will take that.

“I thought we were deserving of our equaliser and if anything we were unlucky not to go on and win the game, there were a couple of chances that didn’t go our way, a couple of decisions on another day we might have got which is a bit annoying but they are a strong side, they have shown that with the teams they have beat, we had a tough game at their place [losing 2-0], we knew how tough they are and so overall it is not a bad point to build on.”

The Gills now head into the Easter weekend with a trip to mid-table Cheltenham on Friday and a visit from fellow relegation battlers Fleetwood on Monday.

Tucker said: “We have shown what we are capable of and that we can compete with the best teams in this league.

“Every game in League 1 is tough, we will have a game-plan for both of those games, it will be a quick turnaround but our full focus will be on Cheltenham now on Friday, we will be working on that to implement a game plan to try and hurt them and hopefully that will be good enough to get us three points.

“Easter weekend is always massive in defining a team’s season, it is not the be all and end all but there are certainly two massive games coming up. Two positive results can certainly put us in good stead going into the last two games.

“Being local and having grown up here as a kid it does mean a lot, I am going to do all I can on the pitch to keep this club in League 1, because I have been here my whole life pretty much, it is all I know, it would mean a lot to stay in this league and why it hurts so much when things like that happen last week, hopefully that point won’t be the difference and hopefully we can stay up.”