Gareth Ainsworth was delighted for everyone associated with the Football Club as Gillingham came away from Barrow with a hard-fought 1-0 win on Saturday.
Robbie McKenzie scored the only goal of the game at Holker Street in the 13th minute of additional time, doing brilliantly to find the bottom corner following Euan Williams' forward ball. Ainsworth was pleased that they could get their own piece of luck, especially for the 237 travelling supporters.
The visitors defended resiliently throughout, limiting Barrow to scraps at the Gillingham goal, as Jake Turner, who was recalled to the starting XI, was hardly tested. The Gills manager was glad to see his three central defenders put in such a commanding performance.
Unfortunately, Cameron Antwi and Armani Little were forced off having picked up knocks during the game. Ainsworth provided an update on them and previewed Tuesday’s Kent Senior Cup game against Tonbridge Angels.
On the winning goal…
Robbie [McKenzie] is a fantastic player. He has done today what I have asked him to do, and we are not going to give away our secrets of how we want to play and train, but he has done what I have wanted him to do. He played a part in getting the corner for the goal.
Euan Williams has the shot, and okay, it is probably into the pack, but for Robbie to be alive. Nothing has fallen for us. I said against Chesterfield, that one of those set pieces is one ever going to fall to us? Where we just have it in front of goal, and we put it in. It probably fell to Robbie today, that’s justified.
The travelling support…
It was a great win, and I’m really pleased for the boys. They have needed that, and not just them, the 237 away fans. Please go back to Priestfield on Saturday and spread that joy, because you lot were brilliant.
At the end, some of the emotions that we were feeling in front of you guys is crazy, especially after the boos of last weekend, and rightfully so.
The defensive resilience…
We have probably created a little bit more than them, but some of the defending. When you talk about Omar [Beckles], Smith [Andy Smith] and Galey [Sam Gale], then you have got my two wing-backs in Clarky [Max Clark] and Remeao [Hutton], but those three in the middle; the crosses were coming in, and they were scrapping and marking men.
There was one that came in the second-half, and Andy Smith is in a tussle with someone at the back post, and I thought, that’s defending. That was brilliant for me. I am really proud of the boys.
The decision to start Ronan Hale and Seb Palmer-Houlden in attack…
I thought that the runners would be key today, and I stand by that. I thought that we had a lot of territory, and it was just a little bit of quality in the final third that we need to work on, and we will work on.
As I say, that is my style. We put it on teams, and hopefully, that will be a fear factor when we’re going forward, when we’re at full strength.
Updates on Cameron Antwi and Armani Little…
Cameron was looking really good, and he has put a big tackle in, so it's a positive sign. We know that the boy is going to tackle for us, and that is what you have to do in a Gillingham shirt. The fans will be proud of that. He really went in. It was Sam Gale style, I might say, but he has rolled his ankle in the tackle, so we will have to have a look at that.
Armani just felt a muscle, and we have got to have a look at that. There are a couple of others that picked up, and we will see where they are in the week.
On Tuesday’s Kent Senior Cup fixture…
There will be some people needing games, so we will be taking it seriously. We’re at Tonbridge, and they will be a decent outfit. There isn’t going to be everything on the game, but there will be people who need minutes that play in that game. We will make sure that we put out the right people; it’s on 4G, which again, is an issue for some players.
We want to win every game, whether it’s the Kent Senior Cup or away at Barrow on a Saturday afternoon.
