Gills boss delighted with display against promotion chasing Rotherham
Martin Allen felt his side deserved the three points on Monday against Rotherham, believing his team dominated the Millers from start to finish.
Deon Burton, formerly of Rotherham, gave the Gills all three points in a 1-0 win after converting from close range following a Chris Whelpdale throw, and the Manager was delighted with the performance after having only 15 professionals to choose from.
He said: “I thought we were outstanding from the first minute to the last. The last 15 minutes they put three or four players up front which made things particularly difficult and they gambled, as you do.
“That was tricky and testing, but apart from one long range effort they never got near our goal. Inside our 18-yard box we defended as we do and god knows how many times we hit the post and the cross bar and I thought their goalie made some good saves.
“That was a top performance.
“In the dressing room at Fleetwood we said there was no excuses, no room for let up. Rest, sleep and get ready because they had one extra day than us to recover.
“Charlie Lee wasn’t fit, Frampton is out and Dack failed a late fitness test I couldn’t bring those three in which is probably what I wanted to do.
“We had to go with the same midfield players – Kedwell has played two games in three days like that, what a performance from him in both games.
“The whole squad have put in a fantastic effort. I have always said we don’t get tired and we don’t do long journeys, we just do journeys.
“We don’t get tired – we recover and the players head for the ice baths and the swimming pool and they have to eat the right food before they are allowed to leave.
“No-one checks on them because they just all do it. We have showed them what we would like them to do and god bless them they all do it and they are now getting their rewards over the long 10-month period.
“It is testament to the staff – Carl Muggleton, John Schofield, Gary Hemens and James Russell put the graft in and work endless hours putting in endless work and organisation.
“They never complain about the hours they work – they graft and are full on, and that’s why we are top of the league.
“Do it right, do it properly, keep going and don’t let our standards drop.”
Martin added that the players had applied themselves brilliantly considering they had to train on Sunday morning after arriving late from Fleetwood and was pleased with the end result against a strong Rotherham side.
He added: “They are good, they have invested heavily yes but they are not that good because we dominated them from start to finish and we should have had loads of goals.
“We were competitive physically, we played some good football and it was always going to be a difficult game with the tension riding on it. They are in the play-offs so they are up there in the league.
“We were up near Scotland the other day, Fleetwood. We didn’t get back until really late, everyone was in training early Sunday but you wouldn’t have thought that with the way we played."
To read Martin's immediate match reaction click here.
To watch his post-match press conference click here.