MAD DOG: THE SPINE OF OUR TEAM WAS STRONG
Talking to Matt Cole on BBC Radio Kent following Gills tenacious victory over Rotherham United a highly delighted Martin Allen said, “Everyone to a man in our squad really played their part today.”
He continued, “Rotherham are the form team in the division, they are very direct and don’t play any football. They’ve got some good players as they pay out a lot of money up here and it was a difficult, difficult game.”
“Notts County had to face it last week in the FA Cup and only drew here and they’re right up there at the top of the play-offs in Division One, so I’ve no illusions over how big the game was. On the counter-attack we looked dangerous, at set-plays we looked dangerous and that Burton/Kedwell partnership proved to be decisive.”
SUNDAY 9 December 2012
MARTIN ALLEN REACTION - Rotherham United 1 v GILLS 2
Acknowledging the scoring prowess of Deon Burton (left), Allen said, “I’d call it technical finishing and finishing off opportunities. It’s not down to luck as he’s practised it for years since playing with him when he was nineteen at Portsmouth and worked with him in practice when I was recovering from injury.”
He continued, “Deon has practiced all through his career and when those chances come along they come naturally to just tap them into the corners. I thought the pair of them excelled upfront (Kedwell & Burton) although Deon will get the credit and the goalkeeper has made one brilliant save.”
“The whole team and the subs that went on did well. Dack did well, Weston and Montrose went on and done well and the lads were right behind us in the dugout so it was a good day for our Club.”
Asked if he thought there were similarities to the performance away at Port Vale earlier in the season where some resolute Gills defending halted the Vale attack, Allen said, “Yeah I suppose so but not really as it was just another game to us and we approached it in the same way.”
“One thing we had today was all our senior players in the middle of the team stood up and the spine of our team was very strong. I thought we were a little bit lacking at Preston last week and today was a fantastic response.”
Meanwhile upbeat Millers boss Steve Evans praised his teams performance against the League Two leaders when saying, “This was a big game for us, but if this was the benchmark we have shown we can beat that benchmark.”
He continued, “Some of the stuff that went on in the match I am surprised it remained eleven versus eleven, as probably do most people in the ground, but if we play like this every week we will win promotion. We were fantastic.”
"A couple of Gillingham's back room team have admitted to me that they rode their luck. That's the biggest understatement I've ever heard.” Evans was also seething over the challenge from Deon Burton that forced skipper Ian Sharps off with a nose injury with just 15 minutes on the clock.”
“It was a nasty, horrible vindictive challenge and deserved a straight red but the referee missed it. We'll look at the DVD and if it’s as bad as we think it is I'll send it to the Football League,” said a fuming Steve Evans.