Gillingham manager John Coleman was pleased with the reaction he saw from his side after they drew 1-1 with table-topping Walsall on Tuesday night.
The hosts took the lead when Jamille Matt deflected Connor Barrett’s wayward effort into the back of the net, but Robbie McKenzie levelled the game on 68 minutes with a goal-of-the-season contender.
Coleman thought that his side were unlucky not to win the game in what he believes was the best performance he has seen since taking over as manager.
The 62-year-old saw plenty of positives from the fixture, including the performances of the returning Max Clark, and full debutant Dominic Corness.
Thoughts on the game…
I think that’s the best we’ve played since I’ve been here. We started the game really well and controlled the first 20 minutes.
We quietened the crowd by how well we controlled the game without really getting our foothold into the game striking-wise. We had a couple of half chances.
In the balance of the second half, I think that we deserved to win it. They scored an absolute fluke. The ball is going out for a throw-in, and it then ricochets into the net. We’ve scored an unbelievable goal through Robbie [McKenzie]. If anyone was going to score late on, it was going to be us.
The determination in the squad…
The lads were determined to prove a few people wrong. They don’t have to prove me wrong. It’s to themselves first, and they showed that tonight. You couldn’t fault any one of our players tonight. They gave everything that they had and were crawling off the pitch at the end.
Looking at the positives…
I was pleased with some of the things that I saw tonight. Max Clark hasn’t played for a bit, and I thought that he was outstanding tonight when he came in. He showed the control that we needed in that position. I will say the same on the other side.
There are signs that we are going in the right direction from that perspective. I think that what the fans wanted to see tonight was for us to roll our sleeves up and have a go. We certainly did that.
I thought that young Dom [Corness] did well, considering it’s a very physical place to come and a physical game to be making his full debut in. I thought that he stood up to the task well.
The importance of togetherness in the squad…
We have to move forward as a unit. Not just as an eleven, but the 22 that travelled tonight and the ones that are coming back from injury. We have got to get everybody pulling in the right direction in the Football Club. That’s what makes successful Football Clubs. Hopefully, we will get that after tonight.
On the travelling supporters…
Our fans were magnificent tonight. Again. I thank them for coming in the way that they did.
