Gillingham assistant takes heart from second half showing in loss to Portsmouth - 7M sport

Gillingham assistant takes heart from second half showing in loss to Portsmouth



Posted Wednesday, October 21, 2020 by PA

Gillingham assistant takes heart from second half showing in loss to Portsmouth

Assistant manager Paul Rayner is calling on Gillingham to replicate their second-half resilience after two early goals condemned the hosts to a 2-0 defeat to Portsmouth.

Goals from John Marquis and Michael Jacobs took the sting out of the Gills within 17 minutes of the game, left with a mountain to climb before reaching their stride.

They recovered in the second half but couldn’t mount a fightback, with manager Steve Evans holding an elongated post-match debrief in the dressing room.

“Don’t be 2-0 down at half-time,” Rayner said when asked about the post-match meeting. “We’ve got a lot of young players but we’ve got character. They’re learning on the job.

“On Saturday at MK Dons there weren’t any positives but there were some in defeat tonight.

“We’re already assessing it and looking at how we can improve. If we continue to show the sort of spirit that we showed in the second half we’ll be OK.

“I thought we caused them problems in the second half but you can’t really turn a 2-0 against a quality team like that.

“We started brightly but we gave ourselves a mountain to climb by defending very naively in the first half. They were two poor goals – a real sucker-punch.

“Kenny Jackett was getting a little bit worried in the final ten minutes – you could hear him on the touchline there, telling his players to get up the pitch. But it wasn’t to be.”

After latching on to Ryan Williams’s neat backheel, former Gillingham loanee Marquis slotted past Jack Bonham on 14 minutes.

Jacobs doubled the advantage after being put through by a spectacular half-volley pass by Marcus Harness, then cutting inside and poking home from close range.

And for boss Jackett, Marquis’ season opener is the start of plenty more for the striker.

“As we know one goal can give a forward so much confidence,” he said. “John will be pleased with his goal. We have good options up there with our forward players and we want to be able to give them the service to score goals.

“No matter how hard you work for the team, strikers always need goals. I thought he led the line very well tonight – it’s something for him to build on.

“We had to work for the clean sheet at the end. I thought we played really well. This is a tough place to come and Gillingham have started the season well.

“They put a lot of pressure on you. I’m delighted with the performance and I think we deserved to win.

“We got two great goals but possibly if there was a criticism, I never really felt comfortable. I did think that we needed a third but ultimately we saw it out.”

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