John Coleman spoke with the media following Gillingham's 2-1 defeat against Fleetwood Town at the MEMS Priestfield Stadium on Tuesday night.
Match reaction...
I was desperate for us to take the lead, and we did with a great goal by Nev [Elliott Nevitt]. We only had to get to half-time. They had a couple of shots blocked, and we sat off them. We let them have the ball, and our clearances weren't positive enough.
We come out in the second half full of gusto. I'd like to see it again, but I think that it is a clear foul for us on the edge of their box. Instead of us taking a free-kick, the ball is up the other end, and it's in our net. That's no excuse. We should defend it miles better than we did.
Then you're 2-1 down in a game where they have barely laid a glove on us for 40 minutes, and then they have scored two in three minutes. From thinking that you're going to win the game, you're now chasing the game. Too often this season, we have been in a situation where we are chasing a game.
Looking towards Saturday...
We’ve got to fight. Anybody who knows me knows that I’ll fight.
I know that there’s a winning team in there. I have to coach it out of them as best as I can. That might be by tough love or by putting an arm around them, but I’ve got to coach a winning team out of them because I know that they are a winning team. There are really good players there.
We have got to make the most out of it on Saturday and make it our day on Saturday. If we work hard enough, we will get what we deserve.
