Richard Dobson was frustrated with the manner in which Gillingham conceded their three goals against MK Dons, but praised his team for the way they kept going until the very end to nearly clinch a point.
Gills fell behind early in the game, and despite a bright start to the second half, they found themselves two goals down. Dobson gave his assessment on the fixture, knowing the early goal allowed the hosts to set the tempo of the game.
The Gills assistant manager provided a positive update on manager Gareth Ainsworth following his surgery on Friday.
Thoughts on the game...
I thought that in the first half, we were a bit too pedestrian with the ball. A little bit slow in the way that we played. We weren't purposeful enough, which I said at half-time. We conceded within five minutes, and we gave ourselves a bit of a mountain to climb. We're playing MK Dons' game rather than ours, and you always worry about getting hit on the counter-attack.
The response at the beginning of the second half was excellent, and the disappointing thing is that in our good spell, we conceded. If we had scored then, we would have had our tails up, and it would have been a completely different game. Unfortunately, we have given away a really sloppy goal when we are on top, and it has given them a two-goal cushion to then be the team that can sit deep and counter-attack.
I'm happy with the effort right until the end. We kept going and created chances. We could have scored four or five today, but unfortunately, so could they.
Update on Gareth Ainsworth…
The operation was a success, so that’s good news. He’s going to be recuperating in hospital over the next few days, so I will speak to him when he’s ready and well enough to talk.
On the goals that were conceded…
I think that the first one comes from a mis-hit shot that ends up turning into a pass. I think that Glenn [Morris] got something on it [the cross], and it’s fallen to their player. Those things happen. You get the chaos of set pieces, and those things can happen. It just happens to fall straight onto the fella’s foot.
The second one was really disappointing, because we have given the ball away trying to play out, and actually, we had played forward all through the first period of the second half. We had been a threat, and all of a sudden, we decided to play short and got ourselves in trouble. The moment [Nathaniel] Mendez-Laing cut inside, you could see the goal open up, and thought, 'This isn’t good.'
The third one, you get through a counter-attack and greater athleticism. He’s quick [Mendez-Laing], and they brought him down from a higher division for that reason. When you have given yourselves a mountain to climb, then they can hit you on the counter-attack, and that can happen.
Seb Palmer-Houlden scoring his first goal…
He’s got goals in him; Seb will score. I have no doubt about that. We’ve missed him. He’s been a bit of a loss, so we’ve had to work him back carefully. Seb will get goals. He’s a poacher and has good pace. It’s nice to have him back in the fold.
Looking ahead to Tuesday against Colchester in the Vertu Trophy…
We’ve got players recovering from injury that we need to give a bit of match time to. It will be a different side, but it will be a strong side. We pay respect to the competition, and we have a squad for that reason. I’m looking forward to Tuesday, and I’m looking forward to what we see if we change the side around a little bit, and I’m really looking forward to next Saturday and getting back to Priestfield.
