Manager delighted as ten man Gills come from behind to defeat Scunthorpe and remain top of League One
Justin Edinburgh said his side’s battling performance against Scunthorpe typified what his team are about this season.
Gillingham came from behind with 10 men to defeat the Iron 2-1 with Harry Lennon scoring right at the death, with Stuart Nelson making a world class save in the dying seconds to keep the side top of the table.
Following the match Edinburgh conceded the first half display hadn’t been good, but praised his players for not accepting a solitary point.
He said: “I'm delighted that we've managed to collect the three points and continued our good run at home. I wouldn't have thought at half time that I'd be sat here after having collected three points.
“It was our worst first half performance at home this season. Sometimes we have to give credit to the opposition; Scunthorpe are a good side, they've got good players, they pushed us back in the first half.
"We changed some things for the second half, but their goal really hurt us. However, as I said recently, this group never knows when they're beaten. They showed that tonight. To equalise as quickly as we did was pivotal.
"That was so important. And to score as late as we did, that's becoming a bit of a trademark for this group.
“I said afterwards to the players that we've got to raise the level of performance; we're top of the league, and people want to come and beat us. We've got to deal with the expectation.
"We're massively overachieving, we're not financially big hitters in the league, but that doesn't say that we can't continue to develop and fight to stay at the top.”
Josh Wright was shown a straight red card for what was deemed to be a late challenge on Paddy Madden, but the Gills boss felt the decision was harsh.
He added: “It's not a sending off. I don't need to go into depth. I'm sure the decision will be rescinded. If that's a sending off then maybe I'm looking at it from a different viewpoint.
“I don't deny it would be a yellow card, but it's certainly not a red. I prefer not to talk about the referee's performance, but talk about the belief and desire the players showed instead.”