Gareth Ainsworth was pleased to see his side come away with a much-needed home victory as they beat Accrington Stanley 2-0 at the MEMS Priestfield Stadium on Easter Monday.
Gillingham won in front of the home crowd for the first time since February, and Ainsworth was delighted to have got the win for the supporters, rounding off a strong Easter weekend for the club. Ainsworth also discussed some of the unsung heroes from the afternoon.
Gills defended well throughout, restricting their visitors to next to nothing. The Gillingham manager praised the defensive players for their efforts and was delighted to see them back to their best after a tricky run of results. Ainsworth also touched upon Louie Dayal making his league debut, and was happy to see another academy player make that special step.
Despite the victory, there was one point of concern for the 52-year-old, as Armani Little went off with a hand injury. The Gills boss provided an update on the captain, as well as other players out with injury.
His assessment of the 2-0 win...
It was a great performance. It really was. It was solid working and good playing, but there is still some stuff to work on, without a doubt. To win at home was a big thing, and I think that the fans have had a great Easter, and obviously turned up well today for us. Thank you very much for that.
There were some new faces, with Louie Dayal from the youth team being the next one to come through and play his debut, so there were lots of positives.
The unsung heroes today: Ronan Hale, who worked his socks off with one up front against two centre halves. It is hard to do. He doesn't get a lot of reward for it, but he works his socks off for the team's performance. Seb [Palmer-Houlden] was absolutely everywhere. Nelson Khumbeni, what a couple of games he has had. That is what I want to see from Nelson. I think he has been great. Then, Marns [Armani Little] was back as captain.
GMac [Garath McCleary] was in a little different position, and Lenni Cirino got a chance on the wing, so I think that lots went well today. I am really pleased with a 2-0 win, which I thought that we deserved.
The defensive solidity...
It was brilliant. Andy Smith and Sam Gale played as two centre halves earlier in the season against teams like Notts County and Walsall, right at the start of the season, and they were fantastic. We sort of lost our way a little bit, and to be fair, they have come today with another solid performance. They worked well as a pair, and being able to put Conor [Masterson] on for ten minutes at the end was nice as well.
Remeao [Hutton] and Clarky [Max Clark], again, real good performances, with a solid, defensive shape. Glenn Morris keeping a clean sheet is always nice to see.
There were times when Accrington looked like they would get away, and then, we would stop them and recover really well. Again, the people in front of the back four are the ones doing all of the running and doing all of the closing.
The two goals...
It was a great header from Andy. He has got really close on a lot of stuff.
What a great lad as well, Andy. What a cracking lad.
[On Garath McCleary's goal]- That is a cracking goal, and it is great for the Gillingham fans to see that and go, 'You know what? That is what we have come for. That is what we have paid our money for, moments like that.' It was great for us.
Louie Dayal making his league debut...
It was like Michael Luxton the other day; to get your league debut is a special moment. It really is.
I am really pleased for Louie, and he has got some talent, that boy, so hopefully, we will see more of him.
On Armani Little's injury and other updates...
Armani is the one that I am worried about. He took a whack on his finger. He is so committed, so committed. He wants so much for this club, and he wants to win so much. I think that a boot has sliced his finger open, and I think that it is pretty nasty.
We have great doctors here; they helped me through my procedure, never mind my players on the pitch. I think that he is in the hospital at the moment, getting assessed, so we will see how that goes.
It has been a tough year with the likes of Shadrach [Ogie], Euan [Williams], Ethan [Coleman], and Cameron [Antwi], and they are all that bit longer term than we would like. Armani looks like he might join that list, and that could be quite tough for him through the end of the season.
