Martin upbeat after recent performances
Martin Allen says he was disappointed to lose 3-1 in the first round of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy against Leyton Orient, but said he was pleased with the overall effort.
with the game having been fairly even for the first 45 minutes, and Martin said losing a second goal before half time was difficult to accept.found themselves 2-0 down at the breakGills
He said: “It was tough to be 1-0 down, let alone 2-0 down. We got them together to help them, support them, look after them and gave them a bit of a change of plan for the second half to be a bit more direct.
“We actually played with three up front in the second half to get it back. We changed it tactically and I thought it worked very well and we put them under a lot of pressure.
“You have to remember they [Orient] have now won six out of six and last week they dominated Hull City from start to finish in and out of possession. I’m disappointed to lose but I thought it was a good effort from our team.”
Loan signing Danny Hollands played the full 90 minutes at MEMS Priestfield Stadium, and the Manager believes the midfielder to be a strong acquisition for the club.
He added: “He’s a good player, he knows the game, he’s had promotions at this level and can chip in with a goal every here and there. He has a one in five ratio for goals in the games he has played so he’s a good signing and will be good for our club.
“Amine Linganzi is about to come back to fitness too. We got Michael Harriman from QPR soon after Fishy got injured.
“We have four good strikers, Westy on the left wing and we have some good young players like Charlie Allen and Bradley Dack who did great.
“On the whole we have a good group of players and we just have to concentrate on what we’re doing and make the best of the players we have got, that’s the key to it.”
Martin went on to say that he values the opinions of the supporters and insisted the players give everything they have got for the shirt in every game they play.
He said: "We drum it in to our players from day one with the responsibility to the paying public to be professional and honest and put in a good shift.
“We have to look after our bodies professionally and get in good shape to put in a good performance. I bump in to supporters around Gillingham and with me living here I meet a lot of them.
“People always start off by saying `in my opinion, although it counts for nothing because I’m a Postman, ` and I always say it does matter, your opinion does matter whether you clean cars or work at the train station.
“Anybody can see if the players are giving everything and are committed or organised and anybody can see if the team try to play some nice football that is good on the eye.
, can see we wear the jersey with pride and we give everything we have got for the club and that goes for the staff, the players and everyone involved in the group.”[Wolves]“Everybody that pays to come and watch us play from day one through to now would say, apart from perhaps that one game away from home
Crawley provide the opposition this weekend at Broadfield Stadium, and after briefly commenting on their most recent signing, the Gills boss said he isn't overly concerned with proceedings at other clubs.
He said: “That’s Emile Sinclair, we had him downstairs in the office for a few hours to try and sign him and obviously we weren’t able to in the summer when he was available.
“He’s a good player but the moment we start whinging, crying or looking at what other people are doing is the moment you may aswell give up.
“I don’t care who they have signed, I don’t care what they can pay. We have got what we’ve got – you have to man up and get on with it.”
here.Watch Martin's press conference by clicking