Josh Wright played for Gillingham in 2008/09 campaign
Leyton Orient’s Josh Wright is looking forward to facing his former side Gillingham tomorrow and believes they can get some revenge on the Kent club.
The O’s have been beaten twice by Gills this season. They lost 3-2 in the league back in November, conceding deep into stoppage time, and lost 1-0 in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy in December.
The 25-year-old started both of those fixtures against his former team and is looking to get one back over Orient’s rivals on Easter Monday.
He believes a third consecutive success, after beating Port Vale and Coventry City in their last two outings, would be huge for Fabio Liverani’s men.
“It is going to be a tough game and it is a bit of a local derby,” said Wright. “We have played them twice before and I remember playing them in one of my first games back for the club.
“They have beaten us by the odd goal with a set piece and another late goal before that, but hopefully we can continue this form we have and try get a third win because we owe them one.
“It would be massive to win three games in a row. Two wins on the bounce is very good, but it would be brilliant to carry this on.”
Wright only spent two months at Gillingham back in the 2008/09 campaign, but made eight appearances and played a huge part in helping them earn promotion to League One.
Although he remembers his time at the Priestfield Stadium fondly, he is fully focused on helping the club he loves stay in League One.
“I will never forget that time with the club. I was at Charlton and I went out on loan as a young lad and it was successful,” added Wright.
“We ended up getting to Wembley and we actually nicked it in the final. I set up Simeon Jackson, who was at Coventry the other night but didn’t play.
“I spoke to him afterwards so Gillingham is a club I will never forget, but I am a Leyton Orient player now and I am thoroughly enjoying my time here.
“I think they picked up a little bit of form before Justin Edinburgh went in as manager for one reason or another.
“He is a good manager and they have done well under him, but we are focusing on ourselves and what we have to do to test them.”
Wright believes confidence is key and insists Orients players have that in abundance going into their final seven fixtures of the season.
Results over the Easter weekend meant they stayed out of the bottom four and the former Millwall midfielder is certain O’s will avoid the drop.
He added: “You have to be confident. I have learnt that individually and it isn’t just huge or massive it is crucial.
“You need to have confidence and belief and the best players and teams in the world have that and, of course they have talent as well but confidence is crucial.
“We have got that right the way through our team and we show it in training and we try to show it in matches as well.
“We need to keep that up. We have seven games left and everyone wants to keep this going and I can’t stress enough how confident we are that we will survive.”
O’s confidence certainly won’t be lacking, but what do they need in terms of points to survive?
Wright added: “You always talk amongst each other about what you need and what will be enough and I think Fabio said we need 12 points before winning at Coventry.
“Maybe he thinks nine points will be enough now. I thought three wins and a draw before we beat Coventry, but you don’t know because two more points could be the difference.
“We just need to keep trying to win games and trying to get as many points as we possible can.”
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