Gills boss reacts as Connor Ogilvie strikes in the last few minutes to beat Rochdale 1-0.
Steve Evans praised the togetherness of his players as Gills recorded their seventh straight home win on Sunday, defeating Rochdale 1-0 at ME7.
Connor Ogilvie got the winning goal in the last ten minutes and the Gills boss praised the entire group who fought until the very end to achieve all three points.
He said: “This is what we had at Rotherham, it’s a special group.
“We stuck to the task, the togetherness in the camp is great, and they’re all embracing it.
“As I’ve always said it has to be about us. The fans, the board, the players, the staff and the people behind the scenes, it’s us and them.”
The Gills dominated the final 30 minutes of the game as they peppered Rochdale’s goal.
Despite it being a defender that broke the deadlock, Evans was full of praise for his attackers.
He said: “For the last half an hour he (Brandon Hanlan) has run them ragged. Then the two substitutes Mark Marshall and Alex Jakubiak made a huge difference.
“They come on full of energy and it lifted the boys, when we changed the system we went to 4-2-4 and with the Rainham End it’s like 4-2-5; they were fantastic.”
Evans’ praise for the fans continued as the entirety of the MEMS Priestfield cheered the Gills on until the end, and he gave them an assist for the three points.
He said: “They were incredible. Looking at the clock, we had played 82 or 83 minutes and they’re singing in full voice. They know that we’re pushing for the goal and we’ve had decisions not go our way, and they stuck with us until the end.”
The win against Rochdale extended the Gills winning home run to seven games but Evans realises that keeping it up will be a tall order.
He said: “We’re going to have to be good aren’t we, with Portsmouth and West Ham coming up.
“We can only focus on recovering the boys, making sure that we do our preparation and homework for Portsmouth.
“We have enormous respect for such a wonderful football club, it’s one of the three giants in this league and it will be another big test for us.”