Steve Evans hoping Gillingham win kicks off double celebration

Posted Wednesday, March 17, 2021 by PA

Gillingham boss Steve Evans toasted a 3-0 win at Lincoln that boosted his side’s Sky Bet League One play-off hopes – and revealed further celebrations are imminent.

First-half goals from former Imps striker Vadaine Oliver and Kyle Dempsey were added to by Jordan Graham’s late penalty as the Kent outfit moved to within two points of sixth spot.

“We’ll be happy tonight and I might be a grandad for the first time by the time I get home,” he revealed. “It’s just magical, isn’t it?

“It was emphatic and we could have had them dead and buried by half-time. We made chance after chance for a period in the game.

“We had to remain competitive all over the pitch and we knew that if we created chances we had boys who could take them. It was comprehensive, but we won’t get carried away as winning at Sincil Bank should be par for the course for my teams.”

The win may have propelled them further up the table towards the top six, but Evans played down their chances.

“No,” he responded, when asked if there was any talk about the play-offs. “We have the smallest budget in the league, but what we’ve got there in is players with competitive spirit and I can’t speak highly enough of them from the start of the season to now.”

Just 10 minutes in, City’s defence were at sixes and sevens trying to clear a ball into the box and Oliver headed home for the Gills.

The visitors doubled their lead after 20 minutes when Dempsey ran on to John Akinde’s pass and slammed the ball past Alex Palmer.

Sub Cohen Bramall brought down Graham in the area three minutes from time and the same player smashed home the resultant penalty to seal a comfortable success.

One-time leaders Lincoln are in a desperate run of form and this was their fourth defeat in six outings, another potentially fatal blow to their promotion ambitions.

But manager Michael Appleton was not too despondent as he still believes his team have over-performed whatever happens between now and the end of the campaign.

“The performance was miles better than it was last Saturday (against Rochdale) and it was more like us,” admitted Appleton. “We created numerous opportunities – you didn’t see the keeper make countless saves, but we were probably in the opposition’s box treble the amount of times they were in ours.

“That little bit of quality let us down at times, whether it was a pass, shot or cross, we took the wrong option. It’s like that when you’re going through the spell we are at the minute.

“We’re 35 games in and have 61 points on the board and no-one can take it away from us. We’re in a fantastic position and we didn’t think we would be in this position after game one, but here we are.

“If we tighten up a bit and be a bit more streetwise, then I think we will be okay.”