Stephen Clemence heaped praise on his players for how they executed the game plan against Charlton, winning 2-0 and booking a place in the third round of the FA Cup.
The Gills produced one of this season’s outstanding performances on Saturday, defeating League 1 Charlton to advance to the third round of the Emirates FA Cup.
Goals from Macauley Bonne and Tim Dieng proved enough for the Gills to progress, and they will now play Premier League side Sheffield United in round three. That tie will take place in January.
Head Coach Stephen Clemence was understandably pleased with what he witnessed at Priestfield, praising the team’s performance on the day and control of the game.
The performance:
“I thought we were outstanding from the start. We had a game plan to get after them, how to press them, and the lads carried it out fantastically. I’m really, really pleased with the boys, they were outstanding.
“We’ve set some high standards with that performance.
It’s very, very hard to play at those levels week in, week out, but it can be done and that’s got to be the aim.
“I thought we kept control and played some good football, but our pressing game was absolutely fantastic. All of the boys, including the subs who came on were absolutely exceptional.”
On Injuries:
“Jonny (Williams) took a whack to the face, he wanted to carry on, but we couldn’t stop the bleeding, so he needed a few stitches. Ethan (Coleman) we’ll have to assess after the weekend.
“It’s never going to be easy when you lose two midfielders in the first half, but to still go on and get the result, I’m really happy with that.
“I said to the boys at half-time that a lot of them are going to have to get through a full 90 minutes here, so make sure you’re mentally tuned in for it…and they were. They were fantastic.”
Progression to the Third Round:
“Let’s just see how deep in the competition we can go.
I’ve not really thought about who we’ll get, I will watch the draw and see who comes up, but my mind will now be fully focussed on Barrow next weekend.”