Mark Patterson delivers his thoughts as the Gills progress into the semi finals of the Kent Senior Cup
Mark Patterson said he is pleased to be through to the semi-finals of the Kent Senior Cup but was keen to stress the Gills had to work hard to overcome a strong Tonbridge side.Goals from Michael Freiter and Charlie Webster eventually saw the hosts through to the last four in a 2-0 win at Priestfield, but the development boss praised the Ryman Premier League side who came close to causing an upset.
Speaking to the club website he said: “It was a very hard game and it took two goals of real quality to finally win the tie.
“Tonbridge were in the game for long periods and we were never in control of that game, we had to work hard for what we got.
“I’ve seen them play already this season and Tom Hadler was on loan there and he told us about how good they were and they didn’t disappoint. They couldn’t have done any more; the only thing missing from them was a goal.
“They didn’t create a lot of chances but Glenn Morris made a good save and Luke Norris acrobatically cleared one off the line.
“We were nowhere near good enough in the first half, not from what we expect of our players.
“Tonbridge were good and they did really well and it took two good goals to finally kill them off.”
Patto said anything other than a win wouldn’t have been good enough, but now that the Gills are in the semi-finals he would like to progress further.
He added: “All we could do was win, the tie was there for us and we were the home team and the professional club and anything other than a win would not be acceptable, however I must stress that is not a slur on Tonbridge at all because they were excellent.
“In the second half we were much better and had a more of a threat going forwards. Overall we are through and that’s the main thing, we want to go as far as we can.
“It’s pleasing to be through but they gave us a good game and it was a hard challenge.”