Gills boss praises his players as never say die attitude clinches a late point against Southend
Justin Edinburgh has called upon his players to dictate matches for longer periods after grabbing a last gasp draw against Southend on Saturday.
The Gills drew 1-1 with the Seasiders at MEMS Priestfield Stadium with Doug Loft coming off the bench to score a bizarre goal when his 45-yard cross looped over the head of Daniel Bentley and into the net.
Stephen McLaughlin had put the visitors ahead in a first half which provided a minimal amount of goal mouth action.
After the game Justin said: “I think the performance typifies what we’re about. Again we’ve got a late equaliser, a fortunate one, but it was a contrasting game of two halves.
"We were dominated in the first half by Southend, we didn’t win enough first and second contacts. They scored the goal, they looked comfortable.
“Again, we’ve have to use our never say die attitude to get back into the game. We certainly had more possession second half.
"I just said to the players that we don’t want keep going behind and leaving it late, we need to start taking the initiative and dictate for longer periods.
"If we start games like we finished, we’ll be seeing them out earlier rather than chasing them.
“Today was a physical battle we lost, that’s unlike us. You never see us get beaten in that department. There’s no shortage endeavour and commitment, I just think we could have had more trust in possession of the ball.”