Gills striker delighted to be on the score sheet as his brace helps guide Gills to victory at Tranmere
Bayo Akinfenwa says he was pleased to bag a brace during the 2-1 win over Tranmere on Friday night, but says it was more important that the team secured all three points.
, and is eager to kick start his season during the festive period.1-0 loss to Bradford in SeptemberThe striker was pleased to get his first league start since the
Speaking exclusively to the club’s official website he said:
“The most important thing was the win but it’s always nice to score goals; it was my first start in the league for I don’t know how long.
“Anybody will tell you that I am not a great bench player, but then again Keds has been magnificent this season having scored a lot of goals so you have to try and take your chances when you get the opportunity.
“I’m a professional, I have been around a long time and I like to keep myself fit.”
scored seconds before the half time break.Bayo talked us through both goals, starting with the first which he
I was told it was the only corner I could have put it in so I was thankful for that, it was a good time to score – I hit it cleanly and it was a good feeling to see it go in. He said: “Joe took the throw, Dacky went in for a 50/50, he is as brave as a lion and it fell to me and it was just instinctive.
“For the second they brought their left back to centre back and he isn’t the biggest. The gaffer said always try and be on the diagonal, he [Steven Gregory] put in a good ball and I got a good head on it.
as we have such a busy period coming up.three points was the main thing“I was shocked to see that the keeper got a save on it, but the ball came back and it was nicely headed in. That put us two goals up but the
“They say if you can make it out of the Christmas period with a good points tally it does set you up for the back end of the season.
after the game but have dropped a place with everyone else playing.th“If we didn’t get three points from Tranmere you start looking down rather than up, we were 13
“We are going in to the Orient game off the back of a win and feeling confident that we can get more points on the board.
“The period is tough and our squad is depleting with injuries but we’re up for the fight and looking forward to it.”
Bradley Dack and Jake Hessenthaler have grasped their opportunity with both hands as the injuries have mounted up, and Bayo has been impressed with the duo.
He added: “They are the future, I have been in the game for a while and seen players – Hess is like a young Carrick, he doesn’t give the ball away and isn’t fazed.
“People may laugh but Dacky is like a Lampard – I’ve been around young players coming through and it’s infectious.
“I feed off their energy and their willingness to want to try anything – they have no fear and it’s a nice blend in the squad.”
Finally I asked the striker if the squad are training on Christmas Day.
He replied: “No – the gaffer has let us have the day off thankfully, I’ve got four kids so that’s a training session in itself and the missus has got me on cooking duties.
“Everybody thinks I’m the beast and I run it but she runs the household! I get to wake up with the kids and have a nice Christmas Day and then look forward to the game on Boxing Day.”