Peter Taylor delivers his reaction to a dramatic penalty shoot-out victory over Colchester at Weston Homes Community Stadium
Gills boss Peter Taylor said he was pleased to have got through to the next round of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy after a dramatic penalty shoot-out victory against Colchester on Tuesday night.The scores were tied at 3-3 after 90 minutes, meaning the game went straight to penalties. The returning Stuart Nelson saved two spot kicks and then scored the winner in his 100th game for the club to book Gillingham a place in Saturday’s draw.
Peter said after the game: “I thought the whole team were very poor first half which is why I was extremely frustrated at half time. I said to them you are a lot better than that and you should not accept that sort of performance.
“I think we are miles better than what we showed so I wasn’t very happy at half time and I made the boys aware of that.
“They probably didn’t me to tell them that to be honest, but in the second half I thought we did very well and really improved.
“We are pleased to be through.”
Nelson was playing in his first competitive game since the opening day defeat to MK Dons, but Peter said he wasn’t surprised to see the stopper put his hand up to take a penalty.
He said: “We didn’t have a lorry load of Ronaldo’s and Messi’s to choose from so I was pleased that Nels wanted to take one because they are good strikers of the ball the keepers.
“He was beaten by a fantastic goal in the first half but in the end he has done very well and worked exceptionally hard to get himself fit for tonight’s game.
“He has played, he hasn’t stopped talking and when it came to penalties he said straight away that he wanted one.
“He’s a confident, experienced goalkeeper and I’m delighted for him that he’s made the saves and scored one.”