MARTIN: "PLAYERS DESERVE CREDIT"

Gills Manager heaps praise on players after solid display at Swindon

Martin Allen said the team is moving in the right direction following the 2-2 draw against Swindon at the County Ground on Saturday.


Cody McDonald came off the bench to equalize in the last five minutes for the visitors, who had come from behind twice following goals from Nathan Byrne and Nathan Thompson.


The Manager was delighted with the performance of the players and says the squad need to maintain their commitment and belief to get results going forward.


Speaking after the game he said: “It’s a good point isn’t it? It was a good team performance and everyone put a real shift in.


“For the last two weeks the players have worked extremely hard mentally and physically. After the big setback that we had [conceding in the last minute against Brentford] you have to give credit and praise to the players.


“They have been focussed and it was a good result for the players, club and the supporters. They didn’t stop singing from the start to the end.


“We just need to keep practising, keep training, keep believing and keep cool. We need to carry on what we did last year – it’s a step up in quality of play and the clubs we are playing against.


“A lot of our players and myself have been in division one and yes I have been successful, but I would class myself as one of the players to be honest – they are family and they deserve to be here.


“They can do more than stand their ground and sometimes that takes a while to work on to get that belief in everybody.


"The supporters recognise the effort everyone puts in and we are definitely moving in the right direction.


“There were going to be spells that they did get good possession but overall we were very strong and resolute as a team which is a character of the year we had last season.”