GILLINGHAM chief Ady Pennock is desperate to ensure his team’s trip to Swindon Town this evening isn’t a case of ‘after the Lord Mayor’s show’.

Former Forest Green Rovers boss Pennock returned to the club where he made almost 200 playing appearances as head coach on January 4 but had to wait until Saturday to celebrate his first victory as Gills boss, with his team beating Southend 2-1.

Before that, Gillingham had endured an 11-match winless run – although that sequence included seven draws – and they remain in danger of being dragged into the League One relegation picture, with just five points separating themselves and the bottom four.

To prevent that from happening, Pennock is desperate for his troops to come out on top at the County Ground against a Town side who ended their own winless run at the weekend.

“We have to look forward to (tonight) now because it is a big game,” Pennock told kentonline.co.uk.

“We deserved that win because we had been so close before. The whole squad has been fantastic.

“I certainly enjoyed the win but we have to move on now. I was back in on Sunday morning and preparing for Swindon.

“We have to build on this win.

“Swindon won and others around us won on Saturday, and that is why it was a big result for us.

“We are both fighting for our lives and it would be a massive six points for us.”

Pennock’s maiden triumph as Gills chief came in his ninth match in charge and despite bringing his son Nathan to a post-match press conference on Saturday, the Priestfield Stadium boss says that he tries his hardest to keep his family life separate from his footballing one.

“I have believed in the players and I don’t feel any pressure. The family do because they live in Gillingham, and when my little one goes to school, they say: ‘have they won a game yet?’,” said Pennock.

“I don’t read the papers or listen to the radio or social media. I don’t let the family look, either.

“All we can do is give everything every day and minute, and get (ourselves) prepared as well as we can.

“This is a family club and we are all in it together. I don’t bring the football home, but they do. They feel it and you have to enjoy the wins.”