Gareth Ainsworth commended everybody at the Football Club as Gillingham’s 3-1 victory at Newport County made it 21 league games unbeaten, a new record.
All of the action came in the first half as Gills fell behind to Nathaniel Opoku’s header in the opening seconds. However, Gills battled back through Bradley Dack's brace and Jonny Smith’s first goal for the club. Ainsworth discussed what was a chaotic first period.
Glenn Morris prevented the hosts from doubling their lead, saving Cameron Antwi’s penalty in the eighth minute. The Gills boss mentioned just how big a moment it was in the game.
Ainsworth was pleased for Seb Palmer-Houlden too, who made his debut and touched on the team's resilience away from home.
Breaking the unbeaten record…
I’m emotional after 21. I’ll never lie. I’m an emotional guy, I live on emotion on the touchline. I had a little choke-up moment when the final whistle went because I thought that it was so special for this group of players to break the record. They will go down in history, these players. They have busted 132 years, maybe, of Gillingham history. 21 games unbeaten, this is ridiculous territory.
I can’t thank them enough. Their efforts with the defenders, midfielders and attackers; all of you, thank you so much. The subs who come on and the subs that didn’t come on, they have all been a massive part of it. My staff have been magnificent since the day that I walked in. All these fans behind us, you can feel it, and we have got something really special going on.
That’s a nice record to have. It’s really good for the players, and they deserve it. I hope that every one of their names gets written down in history because they deserve that. They’ve worked their socks off for that record. They enjoyed that moment at the end.
On a chaotic first half…
I don’t know how to put the first half into words. It was the craziest 45 minutes that I have been involved in for a long time. I have to say, I was lost for words in the first five minutes. I said to the players that they surprised us. They sprung some great play around us, and we weren’t ready for it. We looked like we were a little bit shell-shocked. At 35 seconds, I had a smile on my face, because I know my boys and I know what I have got here.
I did worry when they got the penalty, but Glenn Morris, what more can you say about him? He’s been in absolutely brilliant form, and he’s played the majority of the games in this 21-game unbeaten run. That save was a massive turning point.
We settled down a little bit into the game, and we slightly tweaked our formation because the one I went with was getting a bit popped around. Once we changed, I thought we settled the game really well with the experience on the pitch. Bradley Dack’s two quality goals, and Jonny Smith, that’s what I brought him here for. What a finish and what a goal that was.
Glenn Morris’ penalty save…
It was huge. Goalkeepers do that. We’ve had some moments where opposition keepers have pulled worldies off, and Glenn has pulled a great save off today. A really good save. I think he pulled another one off, but he has been phenomenal for me.
Seb Palmer-Houlden making his debut…
I thought that it was right to put Seb on. I thought we needed more of a runner up front rather than a Sam Vokes type. I spoke to Vokesy and said, ‘Look, Vokesy, I am going to bring Seb on here because I think that we need a bit more legs.’
He was fine about it, and Vokesy comes on and does what he does and almost scores a goal at the end there, which is Vokesy through and through.
It’s brilliant to see Seb. He has been very patient.
Getting another result after falling behind…
It says a great deal. This time we won rather than drawing like at Accrington and Tranmere. That’s a magnificent win away from home, at a team that I think will take points off teams. They’ll get it right, Newport, but today belongs to us.
