Gills Manager pleased with performance in 2-2 draw at Highbury Stadium
Martin Allen described the draw against Fleetwood as `a big point` after watching his side draw 2-2 at Highbury Stadium.
The Gills were pegged back twice having gone ahead through Danny Kedwell and Charlie Allen, but Jamille Matt bagged a brace as the teams shared the spoils.
Martin admitted that some of the players were disappointed, but was delighted with the performance of his squad for the first 70 minutes.
He said: “It’s another point towards our total. It was fierce and very difficult when they put their two centre forwards up top near the end.
“They changed their style of play and went very direct. Jon Parkin and the lad Matt, they bought him for £300,000, and Parkin is a handful at any level so as a team it’s very difficult to defend against.
“There is an element of disappointment in the dressing room that it’s not three points but I think the first 60-70 minutes was the best we have played in a long time. I thought we were absolutely fantastic and maybe we should have been a lot more goals ahead.
“I’m delighted with Birchy, I thought he was superb and Westy is just coming back in to it. Great support, there is a lot of them here and it is a good day for us I think.
“I made the changes; I went to see the reserves play at Dagenham on Tuesday. I didn’t drive over the bridge just to see my family – they were terrific. Charlie Lee was meant to play in midfield but he was sick last night and had a virus so we had to change our team at 9am so Robbo [Anton Robinson] came in and played.
“Callum hasn’t had a game for a while and has been superb in training, he’s been working really hard and I came in and promised that I would play them all and I think quite a few of them were surprised on Thursday morning when I told them what the team was going to be.
“I have faith in all of them, I have belief and confidence in all our players so I can make those changes and I slept well last night.
“I just keep encouraging them, keep pushing them and keep helping them and just moving as close as we can to get as many points as we can. And at this stage of the season, with the gap we have got at the top, every point is a big point because the games are getting less and less.
“You could say it’s negative but I don’t see it as negative, it’s about getting the job done.
“A few games away from home we haven’t quite been there and in the second half we made some substitutions and got back in to it.
“The first half was probably the best we have played for a long, long time to be honest. The chances wen created, the pace that we had and the goals that we scored. We had opportunities to get more goals and it was just a shame we were not two, three or four up at half time.
“That’s not criticising our players, I am crediting them for a good performance.”
More reaction from Martin, and from goal scorer from Charlie Allen, will follow.