Steve Evans reflects on battling performance against Sunderland.
Manager Steve Evans praised the character and fighting spirit within the Gills dressing room following Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.
Jordan Graham scored a deserved equaliser for Gills in the closing stages, having fallen behind early on thanks to a deflected strike. Alex MacDonald scored his first goal for the club to make it 1-1, before a controversial penalty but Lee Johnson's side in front for a second time.
With the promotion chasing hosts looking to see the game out at 2-1, Graham powered home a late shot which proved too much for Lee Burge.
Speaking after the game, the Gills boss was pleased to get a point but also felt his team would have deserved victory.
He said: “We’ll take the point; the performance was the main thing. We were decent; we battled hard.
“We got back into the game, Alex MacDonald’s is a good strike, we hit the underside of the bar and were totally dominant.
“We had a penalty given against us, it’s a shocking decision. In the second half they had a little spell; for ten minutes they were the better side but didn’t make a chance. We changed the system, Tyreke Johnson puts a brilliant ball in; the flick from John Akinde was excellent and it was a fantastic finish from Jordan Graham.
“We played very well in spells; we make the long journey back to Kent with real disappointment that we don’t go back with all three points. The players gave us everything.”
The manager said he couldn’t fault his team in any way after giving everything for the cause.
He added: "We fight until the end - 95/96 minutes; the character in that dressing room is absolutely fantastic. We should win. After the game we all said we have left two points here.
"This is a great place to come to and I never doubted our ability. We have some real leaders, and lads that never give up.
"They gave us everything."