Gills boss Peter Taylor looks forward to today's clash with Port Vale
The Gills take on Port Vale in Sky Bet League 1 this afternoon and manager Peter Taylor admits this week’s persistent rainfall hasn’t helped with his team’s preparations. The Beechings Cross training ground was considered too soft for first team training on Thursday forcing Peter to make alternative arrangements.The gaffer explained, “We haven’t been able to get on the training pitch because there’s been so much water, so we’ve been using a very good 3G surface at a school in Faversham, which I have to say was fantastic.
“We’ve had to be a little bit careful because the players feel their joints a little more when they train on something like that. I’m not convinced they actually do, I think that might be a little bit psychological but we’ve trained ok this week.”
Peter knows his Port Vale counterpart Micky Adams very well and is under no illusions about the threat his team will pose, saying, “His teams are always hard-working, and they are always organised at set pieces, both on and off.
“Mick knows this level and he has a lot of players that have done well in League 1. He’s signed some good strikers so we know it’s going to be a difficult match. We felt as though we played very well up there, for the first 45 minutes, and I think Mick will see us as an improved side when he comes here.”
The Gills come into the game on the back of a three game unbeaten home run with wins against high-flying Wolves and Swindon following on from a 2-2 draw with Walsall, and Taylor believes the Priestfield faithful are the key to his side’s success.
He said, “When our crowd are really at it they can help our performance, there’s no doubt about that. The players have enjoyed their last couple of performances, even though one was a defeat. I think the players are quite happy with the way we are playing at the minute. We mustn’t drop our standards though so we need to make sure that we start brightly against Port Vale.”
Finally Peter updated us on the current injury situation, confirming that midfielders Charlie Lee and Chris Whelpdale will both miss the match, adding “I think they will both be out until the Carlisle game but they are getting there. All of a sudden the injury situation is clearing up a little bit now.”
“Danny Kedwell will take a little bit of time. I think he’ll probably still be at least three weeks away. The hernia situation is doing alright but I think that his back has been a bit sore after the operation. It’s not a major set-back but I don’t think he’ll be back any quicker than three weeks.”