The Opposition View - Gillingham

Following yesterday's superb 2-0 win at Gillingham, here are some views on the game from the Gills' manager Andy Hessenthaler and a few of their fans.


The Gills' boss was disappointed with his side's defending and concerned at their lack of confidence.

"We were too loose defensively from the start of the game and they carved us open too many times early on, then they made us pay," he told Kent Online.

"We tried to play a high line and that was something we worked on in training but for some reason we tried to play a high line when there was no pressure on the ball and you can`t do that. If there is no pressure on the ball you have to drop off - it was schoolboy stuff really.'

"We didn`t start right but after conceding the goals we came back into it and had a few opportunities. You can see there is no real belief in us at the moment," he said.

"There were two teams out there - One was a confident side that's doing very well on a decent run and one is on a poor run. I did feel for the boys because it wasn't for the lack of trying. It's tough at the moment but we have to keep working hard to try and turn things around."


The Gillingham fans were unhappy with their own side but were quick to acknowledge Wycombe's fine performance.

The following extracts are taken from Gillingham Fans Online, Gills Connect, Football Forums, BBC606 and The Football Forum.


brb wrote:
'Completely numb on what to say about that mess. Let's not take anything away from Wycombe though, they stuffed us good a proper with a well organised side who had strength, height, pace the lot - I can certainly see why they haven't lost any away games this season, promotion candidates they certainly are.'


jaybo wrote:
'I felt the fans were quite patient last night, but were let down. I feel so sorry for McDonald because given service, he will score, but Bayo is too fat, and if it's affecting his game, which it is, he should LOSE SOME WEIGHT. Defensively we had too high a line with a slow back-four which is not a sensible combination and just invited them to play over the top and get in behind us. Quite frankly they could have won about 5-0 and I wouldn't have said it wasn't deserved.'


superblues wrote:
'I thought Wycombe were good and their forward runs from midfield were excellent. We were poor and on another day could have lost by even more.'


Trev_GFC wrote:
'The best part of Gills' matches is the first 20 mins, then we revert to hoofball. It's horrific to think we have the 3rd biggest budget in the league yet a large amount went on our sizeable target man.'


boyogill wrote:
'Wycombe were a pretty good team although their goal did come totally against the run of play. After that we were just predictable and they played it very well. I don't want to seem arrogant in implying we're too good for this league. It's not that I think we're a bigger club than Wycombe/Northampton/Accrington - I don't think we are - but I look at the players we have and think we should give them a better game than we are doing.'


gland wrote:
'Wycombe really should have won by a greater margin. Ainsworth was excellent for them tonight and rightly got applauded off by all sides of the ground.'


gill69 wrote:
'The most woeful performance that I've seen since the last time we played Wycombe. Clueless and predictable would be the kindest summing up. Julian made a couple of decent early blocks and we were spared an embarrassing scoreline by some pretty inept finishing.'


fredperry wrote:
'As a footy fan - their first goal was class - we would love to watch footy like that , but it was probably made easier by our inept defence and midfield.'


Dodgy_Geezer wrote:
'We came up against a well organised team who exposed our defence with ease. We created chances but our shooting was woeful.'


joethegill wrote:
'Hess out. If he's still in charge for Dover then I'm not going. Also, Gareth Ainsworth - what a fabulous player. Can't be arsed to say any more - utter shambles.'


Next Game: Hayes & Yeading v Wycombe - 6th Nov - 3.00pm

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