Manager Gareth Ainsworth wants Gillingham to put past Grimsby misery behind them when the Mariners return to Priestfield on Saturday.

Ainsworth has rebuilt the squad in his own image and will be hoping to put past disappointments behind him.

The Gills boss watched from his hospital bed as they were beaten 1-0 in Cleethorpes early on in the previous campaign but was there on the sidelines late last season as his side were crushed 4-1 at home.

Grimsby return to Kent in poor form, having picked up a point at Rochdale on Tuesday night to end a run of four successive League Two defeats.

“They were super up there,” Ainsworth recalled. “I was in hospital actually watching that game away at their place and then coming to our place, yeah, they did us in the latter part of the game.

“We were way off what we are now, last season, and hopefully it’ll be a different game.

“But you’re talking about a side who are consistently in the play-offs, consistently around the top seven. We have to beat these teams if we want to be a decent team, especially at Priestfield, which I’m trying to make into this fortress place.

“The last four games, I think we’ve had two wins, a loss and a draw in all competitions. That’s decent form. It really is. I’ll take that for the next four games; everyone would.”

The Gills drew 1-1 at home to Port Vale on Tuesday night, responding to Ainsworth’s demand for a reaction after their 3-1 defeat at Accrington Stanley.

“It was just a reaction that I needed,” he said. “We didn’t look ourselves at Accrington at all. [On Tuesday] we looked a lot more ourselves again and could have gone on to win that game. I’m pretty excited about what’s coming.

“I’m looking forward to Saturday’s game but nothing’s taken for granted. We’ll work really hard and try and get the result.

“Really proud of what we’re achieving at the moment. We’re sat in the play-offs, which is great for a team that has got a lot of injuries and, you know, we know we’re going to get stronger.”

There was some frustration among supporters during Tuesday’s draw, particularly when Ainsworth substituted top scorer Ronan Hale and striker Tom Eaves.

The manager suggested some of the boos at full-time may have been directed at the officials, following a number of decisions that went against his side.

Explaining his decision to withdraw Eaves, Ainsworth said: “Tom Eaves hasn’t played 90 minutes since last season, so there’s no way that you can risk him.

“If I’d have left him on and he’d got injured, to add to our already crazy injury list, I’d have been hammered for that.

“Getting hammered for taking him off with 15 minutes to go, I’ll take. My decision. I thought he started to look a little bit leggy and that’s when injuries happen.

“Ronan was tactical. Ronan played a full 90 at Accrington, another nearly 80 minutes [on Tuesday] night as well. So, again, legs-wise, I’m looking at him for Saturday.

“He’s our top scorer, I understand that. But you’ve got to look after these players.

“We tried to inject a bit more pace in the team and the fans will all have their opinions. One day I’m sure they’ll be happy with some of my decisions but at the moment, I’ll have to bat it off and crack on.

“I have to say, we are sat in the play-offs, which is a nice place to be after 12 games, especially with the huge rebuild that we’ve had, but it looks like it’s got to be better than that. So, we’ll see, we’ll keep trying.

“I actually think there was quite a bit of reaction towards the referee as well. There’s some fantastic Gillingham fans getting right behind us and I think they were really frustrated with some of the decisions, like Sheldon Kendall having to go off for a minute [after being injured] in the last minute of the game, which didn’t help.

“I think the referee missed a couple of things, the free-kick and the [disallowed] goal being one of them. But, you know, it happens.

“On Saturday, we go again and hopefully get a good game against Grimsby Town and get the points.”