Peter Taylor upbeat ahead of the new season despite a narrow 1-0 defeat to former club Dover at Crabble Stadium
Peter Taylor says he is feeling calm ahead of the new season with the majority of his first team squad having now played a full 90 minutes.Peter took charge at Crabble Stadium as Gills slipped to a narrow 1-0 defeat at Dover on Tuesday, while Andy Hessenthaler managed a second XI at Faversham in an impressive 6-1 victory.
Taylor described the game as a good test but admitted there are still things to work on.
He said: “To me, Dover started very well and put us under a lot of pressure. We had to improve and we had to handle it and I think in both halves we did handle it and improve.
“At times we didn’t have the patience to pass but after about 20 minutes we got better and we started handling it and started causing them problems and we had a bit more of the ball.
“I was OK with that and we then recovered. There will be times this season when that happens, where our passing game isn’t right and you have to keep grafting away and then you have to slowly and surely get your passing game right.
“Maybe had we scored on one of the two very good chances we had we might have gone onto win the match."
Taylor fielded new signing Kortney Hause alongside John Egan at centre-back and Taylor said although he did well he needs more Football to gain match sharpness.
He added: “He needs a little bit more football, he hasn’t had much, but I thought he grew in the game, he showed his strength and his touch and at times he showed his heading ability but there were also times where you could tell he needed a bit more football but he will be fine.
“He has had a full pre-season so there is no problem on the fitness, it is just the match-fitness, he has only played a few 45 minutes for the development squad or whatever. We have got plenty of time for the first game.”
Gills have one more friendly to go before the league season begins, that coming against Ebbsfleet this coming Saturday at Stonebridge Road and Taylor has no regrets with the way he and the management have approached the seven games they’ve had.
He added: “The most important thing that the majority of players at Dover and Faversham got 90 minutes, that’s the biggest thing I could say.
“I was desperate for them to play 90 minutes. We couldn’t do it any other way. Maybe we could have played the next night, to look at both games, but I maintain this is the best way to do it.
“Hess looked after the game at Faversham, I looked after the game here and plenty of players got 90 minutes. As long as there are no injuries then it’s worked out as a successful night.”