Gillingham assistant manager Richard Dobson credited the belief within the squad as they scored a last-gasp equaliser in the 1-1 draw with Cheltenham Town at MEMS Priestfield Stadium.
Elliott Nevitt scored the goal, his first of the season, with a fine snapshot on the edge of the penalty area. Dobson was delighted for Nevitt, who started the game as a substitute.
Seb Palmer-Houlden and Sam Vokes led the line for the Gills, both making their first league starts. The 49-year-old was impressed with what he saw from both players and is looking forward to seeing their partnership develop.
Dobson gave an explanation behind the decision to start with a back five for the game, and credited the medical and sports science teams at the Football Club for their hard work in preparation for the fixture.
The belief in the squad…
I always believe in the boys, and they have great belief and confidence as well. You worry that now they [Cheltenham] are going to dig trenches on the edge of their box and defend for their lives. That’s what they did. They got blocks in. Once you lose control of the game and the opposition scores first, it suddenly becomes very difficult.
We created so many chances in the game that I felt like we might get another one. I actually said to Elliott Nevitt, ‘You will get your goal tomorrow,’ because he has been waiting a little while. I’m delighted for him.
It’s good that they’re disappointed that they haven’t won the game. I think that says a lot now. They’re a team that wants to win matches at home. They have played to win today, and I am really pleased with a lot of what I saw today. I think that if we can keep reproducing that, we will be alright in games in the future.
On Elliott Nevitt’s first goal of the season…
He’s been unfortunate this season. He has had many near misses. We actually spoke yesterday, and I said that tomorrow is the day. I’m delighted for him. He’s frustrated that he hasn’t hit the back of the net as much as he would have liked, but he was the man on the spot today. When we needed someone when the ball was bobbling around the penalty box, we just needed someone with a calm finish. Fortunately, he’s found the corner.
On Sam Vokes and Seb Palmer-Houlden’s first league start…
It’s a really good pairing, that. It’s an older head and a younger lad who is enthusiastic and bright. He doesn’t play like a 21-year-old; he’s a clever player. I thought that they combined really well. I thought that they gave us a threat. We were an aerial threat through Vokesy, and we have got Seb, who can run down the side, and he’s also pretty good in the air. Whichever way you try to defend against us with those, it becomes very tough.
It’s a real shame that we haven’t had them so far in the season, because it would have been really good to dovetail them, Elliott Nevitt, Josh Andrews and Marcus Wyllie, and have a real mixture of people to apply pressure.
The reasoning behind the starting formation…
We’ve lost our wingers over the last couple of weeks, which is a shame, because we want to play with wingers. It was the natural formation to pick with what we had. We spoke with Gaz [Gareth Ainsworth] on Thursday, and we fed back our information with what we had seen with Cheltenham, and he watched them and pretty much came back with the same things.
It’s probably not ideal to play Shad [Ogie] for the third game in a week, but we are trying to get him back up to speed, because he is somebody that needs games to get the very best out of him.
The formation was a natural formation to pick with what we had available.
I’ve got to say, Jamma [James Russell], Minty [Paul Timson], the sports science, and the medical team have done a wonderful job this week to get players fit. It was looking like we were going to be a lot lighter at the start of the week, and what they have done over the last few days has been nothing short of amazing. I have got to give them a lot of credit for getting the players that we got out on the pitch today out there. Fair play to Vokesy [Sam Vokes] and fair play to Seb [Palmer-Houlden] for running through as long as they did.
