United are back at home tomorrow afternoon with Gillingham, fresh from a penalty shoot-out success in midweek, the visitors, with both teams looking to get back to winning ways in the league.
Speaking about the game, manager Paul Simpson said: “Gillingham have just come down and they’ll be wanting an improvement on the start they’ve had.
“We also want a response from last Saturday. We’re not guaranteeing that we will turn up and beat them because they’ll be wanting to get a result over us.
“We know they’ll make it a tough game and that’s why we have to make sure we’re the best version of ourselves we can be. That’s all we can do. Whatever they decide to do is out of our hands, it’s all about us and how we play.”
On the boost the away team will have received from their dramatic Carabao Cup victory, he commented: “Winning games in any manner gives you a lift. As I say, there’s not a lot we can do about them, we have to deal with us.
“They’ve had 90 minutes of football this week, whereas we’ve had a week to train and structure, and we’ve had players back out on the grass with us as well.
“We have to turn that into a Saturday performance. The downside is that we were knocked out of the cup when we wanted to be involved. We can’t change that, so we turned it into a good week.”
And with Neil Harris at the helm for the Gills, he knows that his opposition manager won’t be looking to take any prisoners.
“I first came across him when I was at Derby and I think it was his first game as caretaker at Millwall,” he told us. “They absolutely ran all over us.
“They played like a team that was a reflection of what Neil was like as a player. But it isn’t about me or Neil, and I’m sure he’ll say the same thing.
“It’s about the players we select going out and performing to the best of their ability, which will hopefully mean we come out on top.”
Fortress Brunton, as ever, could help to tip the balance a little bit further in the direction of the home team.
“The fans have been brilliant so far, and we’ve got to make sure we keep it going,” he told us. “I want it to be really positive all round and the only way we can do that is by performing and getting results.
“Last week will only be a blip if we do it right this weekend. We need to get the best level of consistency we can get for a League Two side.
“I say that in respect of the fact that we all have flaws in our character at this level, we’ve all got something we can’t do brilliantly.
“That means we don’t have the level of consistency you get at Premier League level. What we have to do is make sure we have a level of consistency that suits us and that reflects what we’re like as a group. Hopefully we get back to that on Saturday.”
“It’ll be brilliant to see the fans back at home on Saturday,” he continued. “It was boiling for the last home game so fair play to the ones who came out to watch us when there were so many others things they could have been doing.
“I’m hoping it’s a bit of a cooler day this weekend and we get even more supporters through the turnstiles and giving us something to go out and work hard for. On the flip side of it, we’ve got to give them something to shout about.
“Kristian is certainly doing his bit with that, he’s had a great start to the season, not just in terms of his goals but his all-round game.
“His work ethic has been incredible and he’s stepped it up another level from last season. I’m delighted with what he’s doing, I just hope the example he’s setting rubs off on a few others and they start scoring.
“We want him to get the club record as his own, but we do want others to help. It isn’t healthy to just have one player scoring. It’s brilliant for Denno, but we need some others to help him and make his job easier.”