Skipper reacts to Bradford defeat
Adam Barrett admitted it was disappointing to suffer a third straight league defeat against Bradford, but said there are enough strong characters within the team to turn results around.A 1-0 loss against the Bantams at MEMS Priestfield Stadium courtesy of a first half corner from Gary Jones proved sufficient to claim maximum points, and despite a spirited comeback in the second half, the Gills were unable to get back on level terms.
The Captain said after the game:
“We need to keep the belief and believe it will turn – we will take anything at the moment. Any scrappy win, we just need to get off the mark.
“We have come close a couple of times and we have let in some last minute sickeners but we need to keep the fight and there is a long way to go and a lot of points to play for.
“A couple of results can drag you out of it but we want to get those sooner rather than later.
“I’m Captain of the Football Club and very proud to be. As a senior pro with experience I need to help some of the less experienced through it.
“We all go through sticky spells in life and in Football and I’ve been in them before and you just need to keep the confidence as high as possible – its difficult but these are players careers and its their living.
“We will roll our sleeves up and come out ready for the next game.
“The positives we can take, apart from the Wolves game, is that all of the matches have been close. Even yesterday its 1 -0 with not a lot in it but there’s a fine line between success and failure.
“We need to tweak a few things and I’m sure we can get that first win and get us up and running.”
The skipper said that during tricky spells players must remain as positive as possible, and is adamant there is enough quality in the side to steer clear of the drop zone.
He added: “We have played a lot worse than what we have done this season and got results and at the moment we are in a sticky patch.
“There are no easy games, we need to earn the right and show other teams that we are a good side.
“There is a lot of determination – they are grafting and working their socks off. Goals change games and at the moment things are going against us and 1-0 down at home that’s when the pressure mounts a little bit.
“We’ve got to be strong, show character and keep believing in what we are doing.
“If you are going to be doom and gloom and throw the towel in then there is no point in turning up. There is a hell of a lot of points to play for, lots of teams have bad starts and have recovered so there is no reason why we cannot do that.
“We want to scrap and pull clear of it, any negativity going out on the pitch and you’re in trouble. We’ve got to keep the belief and we have a great bunch of guys, strong characters who are all work horses who turn up every day and graft.
“Hopefully the hard work pays off and we’ll start to turn a corner.”
Barrett was disappointed with the offside decision that eventually saw the visitors take the lead, with the centre-back believing the flag should have been raised against James Hanson.
He said: "We were furious with the decision that led up to their corner because Hanson has run to the ball in an offside position, all of a sudden he has stopped and let the other guy but he made the movement to go and get the ball.
“For me that should be offside, that carried on and the way things are going for us at the moment the resulting corner goes in for them and things just don’t seem to be going our way.
“They probably look a the penalty they might have had with Leon Legge at the start of the second half and they might be a bit aggrieved, but there are two decisions. The first with the offside on Hanson, I don’t know how he hasn’t given that.
“Cody’s one when he said he was on but I couldn’t really tell. We are just disappointed we haven’t taken our chances.”
Watch Adam Barrett’s post match press conference by clicking here.
Martin Allen’s reaction can be read here, and watched on Gills Player.