Effort and work rate against Lincoln pleases Gills boss.
Steve Evans felt conditions played their part as Gillingham were held to a goalless draw at Lincoln City on Saturday, a draw which extended the Gills’ unbeaten run in Sky Bet League One to fifteen games.
Speaking after the game, Evans said: “I don’t think it’s a spectacle to talk about. We won’t look back on this at the end of the season and think what a day that was. The wind spoiled it, and it was a game of two halves for me. First half we had to defend it, but I felt we did that relatively comfortably. Second half we’ve got that little bit of an advantage with the weather but one or two decisions did not go our way.”
In what was a fiercely contested battle at the LNER Stadium, Lincoln were dismissed to ten men when Tayo Edun was shown a second yellow card in added time, although Evans felt he shouldn’t have been the only one who was sent their marching orders early.
Evans added: “It’s a real tough afternoon when you need to point out that it is a second yellow to the same player and if you don’t point it out then he stays on the pitch."
Gills were much improved after the break, but lacked that final end product that it would have taken to earn the three points. Corners and free-kicks were loaded in to the area but the ball didn’t drop to a Gills shirt.
“We had a lot of first touches from Max (Ehmer) from set pieces and throw-ins but no one was having that gamble on the end of it," the manager added. "I think a share of the spoils was fairly right from what I’ve seen. Credit to our supporters for travelling a long way, I was surprised by the number that travelled and I’m not often left surprised in this game anymore.
“I think we’ve left two points here. When we get to half time and see we’ve got the wind with us in the second half we expect some players to up their performance in terms of quality but we didn’t really get that today. A lot of set plays today were either underhit or overhit, and it took until the last few minutes to get some quality in.”
Evans saved the final word in his press conference to praise his Gills side who made it 15 unbeaten in League One, the fourth longest unbeaten run in the club’s history.
“This is a fantastic group of players, we cannot go in today and fault one man’s effort because every man that has gone out there today has given their all. But I said to them today that we will need some quality if we want to win.”