Steve Lovell on a high after comeback Gillingham victory

Posted Sunday, January 28, 2018 by PA

Steve Lovell saluted his side’s display after Tom Eaves’ second-half double helped in-form Gillingham to a comeback 2-1 win over Fleetwood.

Eaves slotted home a penalty in stoppage-time to give the Gills a deserved win – their fourth in a row in the league – to lift them up to 10th in the table.

Paddy Madden put Fleetwood ahead after 13 minutes but Tom Eaves equalised eight minutes after the break with a deflected header, before snatching maximum points from the spot in the first minute of stoppage-time.

And that left Lovell – who only took over as permanent manager in November – positively beaming as they ended the Cod Army’s three-match win streak on the road.

“I’m very happy, not just with the result but also the performance. I don’t think anybody in the ground could say that we didn’t deserve the victory,” he said.

“That’s probably the best we’ve played here at home since I’ve been in charge. Fleetwood started brightly, they moved the ball around and we had to weather the storm in the first ten minutes. Some of the football we played was first class.

“I was a bit nervous about Tom (Eaves) – he’s taken a couple of penalties in the past but they haven’t been the best. But he’s a goal scorer in form, so how could we take it off him? Fair play to him, he tucked it away brilliantly.

“It was a penalty, no doubt about it. I had a go at him at half-time, along with Josh Parker – I felt they could have done better. I said that if they got in the game more we’d win it. I wanted them to start performing and they did.

“It was an outstanding team effort. If it had ended 1-1 today I’d have been happy. We were excellent on the ball. We passed it really, really well.”

Meanwhile Fleetwood boss Uwe Rosler was left to reflect on what might have been after Madden tapped home from Conor McAleny’s cross early on to take the lead.

Wes Burns came close to a winner with a looping header before conceding the penalty which saw them drop a point.

“We’ve had a few late defeats recently – last week we lost in the 83rd minute,” Rosler said.

“Gillingham raised the tempo in the second half but I don’t think they outplayed us. They had the momentum, yes, but I still felt pretty confident. We needed to cope more with their physicality, that’s the bottom line.

“We expected Gillingham to be strong today but we started really well. We tried to pin them back, we tried to attack them. In the second half we played into their hands. There was more and more pressure coming onto us.

“We need to resist that pressure and try and play our own game. I just feel sorry for the boys. Losing a game like this has happened too many times now – it’s not about fitness. I think mentally we need to be stronger.”