EDINBURGH: "THE FANS DID THEMSELVES JUSTICE"

Justin Edinburgh spoke to the media following his side's defeat at White Hart Lane on Wednesday

Gills manager Justin Edinburgh praised the 2,944 away fans who filled the away end at White Hart Lane during Wednesday night's EFL Cup third round defeat to Tottenham.

Edinburgh spoke to the media following the game, which saw him return to the club he spent 10 years of his playing career with, and felt the Gillingham supporters did the team justice.

The Gills trailed by just one goal at half-time, before four in 23 second half minutes from Christian Eriksen, Vincent Janssen, Erik Lamela and Josh Onomah completed a 5-0 victory for the hosts. 

Edinburgh on...the away fans: "We’ve had a good cup run, we’ve have good exposure, and the 3,000 supporters here tonight have done the club justice by signing to the end. The supporters have been fantastic since I joined the club and they were a credit to themselves. They tried to drag the players forward but it wasn't to be."

Edinburgh on...the result: "We’ve probably not done ourselves justice, but we’re fully aware and respectful of the difference between the two teams. But you always have to half a belief and focus that you can come and maybe cause an upset; we weren’t able to fulfil that tonight.


"I think we could have been better and braver with the ball, but that’s easy to say from the sidelines. I think the big thing for us tonight was the power and physicality of Tottenham, that caught us by surprise and we were a bit frantic with the ball. We turned over possession quite a lot and were often on the back-foot.


"We blocked shots and were resolute in defending. However, we didn’t get out quick enough to block Eriksen for his opener, which came when I felt like we were beginning to frustrate them, even if we were doing a lot of work in our own half. Saying that, that was no different to the Watford game.

 

"At half-time, we rallied the players and tried to give them belief and courage. But once the quick goals went in, I felt like we were out of it. That’s not an embarrassment, we know who we were playing against, and we won't be the last team to lose 5-0 here, I'm sure. I can’t criticise the effort, I never can. We could have gone under at 5-0, but we kept going."


Edinburgh on...injuries picked up: "Jonathan Bond has got a groin strain - it might be worse, it may be better. Hopefully by taking him off quickly we’ll avoid a bad one, so we’ll assess it. We’ve got a fantastic replacement in Stuart Nelson, who had no chance with the goals and made some good saves. Jay Emmanuel-Thomas's knee went under him, we didn’t want to take any chances but we’re hopeful it’s not serious."


Edinburgh on...the coming weeks: "We can draw a line under this and what we have to do is regroup and concentrate on the league. We’ve got some big games coming up and we need to find some consistency, because results haven’t been good enough."


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