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Interviews

Akinde | "I want to help the team win"

Gills striker eager to play his part in the hunt for a play-off place.

22 February 2021

Interviews

Akinde | "I want to help the team win"

Gills striker eager to play his part in the hunt for a play-off place.

22 February 2021

Match reaction from John Akinde following win over Bristol Rovers.

John Akinde was the star of the show as Gillingham beat Bristol Rovers 2-0 at the MEMS Priestfield Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Two second-half goals from Akinde secured all three points, and the striker was just happy to do his bit.

Akinde said: “I want to score goals, and I want to help the team win and get three points. I'm buzzing, to have done all of those at the weekend.

“Obviously, you get more match fitness, more match sharpness, so it was good to get another start.

“I think Big V coming on in the second half helped me massively. He obviously shares the load, then all of a sudden they’ve got to think about which one they need to pick up. We worked well together, same as with Olly [Lee], we worked well together as well.”

Gills progressively wore down a stubborn Rovers defence in the second half, and John praised the impact of Tommy O’Connor who provided the assist for the first goal.

“Obviously I’ve scored a few like that, and I’ve been trying to work on it in training. Trying to work on the best ways to break teams down, and thankfully Tommy put me in. About time as well!

“I was always confident when Tommy played it to me. There was enough weight to let it run as well, so it was a good ball.”

Gillingham travel to AFC Wimbledon on Tuesday evening, and Akinde acknowledged how tough of a task it will be.

The Wombles are currently in 21st place, but with the competitiveness of League One, the 31-year-old knows to never underestimate anyone.

“As a team, we just take each game as it comes. We never take any team lightly. Any team could beat anyone in this league on their day; so we’ve got to go there bearing that in mind. Knowing their threats, but focussing on what we do.”


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