Lovell hails strike force after thrashing Plymouth
Posted Sunday, May 06, 2018 by PA
Steve Lovell insists Gillingham can beat anyone in League One if strikers Tom Eaves and Josh Parker are on form after they smashed Plymouth 5-2.
The Gills have fought relegation for much of the season but hammered promotion-chasing Plymouth on the final day to confirm a 17th-place finish.
Eaves scored a hat-trick in the rout, while Parker got the opener as Gillingham ended Plymouth’s feint promotion hopes and left Lovell buoyant as they enter the summer.
“When we’re at it, we can beat anyone in this league,” he said.
“The one thing about Tom Eaves is that he won’t stop trying. I’ve said all season, if we perform like that then more often than not we’ll get a positive result.
“We started brightly and I’ve said that if our front two strikers play how they can do, and hold the ball up then we get results.
“Most of our results have come when our front two play well. It’s no coincidence that when we have a bad run, the strikers lose a bit of form.
“It was nice to see Josh and Tom get their goals. We passed the ball around and had a number of occasions where we could have added even more to the five goals we scored.
“It was excellent today. Today the man of the match could have been any one of those players.”
Argyle not only needed to win but also required sixth-placed Charlton to lose and for there to be a six-goal swing in proceedings for them to reach the play-offs.
But they could not handle giant forward Eaves, who struck a 21-minute hat-trick either side of the break to keep Argyle in the third tier next season.
Parker’s strike gave Gillingham an early lead before Anthony Grant bundled in an equaliser for the visitors – but Gillingham hit the accelerator.
Eaves finished coolly twice to put them ahead before a towering header completed his treble.
Graham Carey pulled one back for Plymouth but Elliot List completed the rout in stoppage time to finish off a fine afternoon for the home side.
Plymouth boss Derek Adams said: “There are players in the dressing room just now that are just knackered.
“They have gone. We had had an injury situation that has caused us that problem.
“We didn’t start the game well enough.
“We lost a goal after six minutes and it was going to be an uphill struggle after that.
“It was just one game too far for us.
“They obviously had the big guy up front and he has done the damage for us.
“I can be proud of the players for the way they performed today and all season really.”
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