Lovell lashes out at ‘shocking’ Gills display
Posted Sunday, September 09, 2018 by PA
A furious Steve Lovell labelled his Gillingham players a ‘shambles’ and an ’embarrassment’ after Joe Pigott’s goal saw AFC Wimbledon edge to a 1-0 victory in Kent.
Pigott pounced on a hesitant Gills defence to round goalkeeper Tomas Holy and slot home early in the second half – giving the Dons a first League One victory since the opening day.
Gillingham offered almost nothing in response, and are now seven games without a win, leaving Lovell to slam his team for a ‘rubbish’ display.
“The only positive we’ve got is that there’s another game next Saturday to look forward to,” fumed Lovell. “It was terrible, shocking.
“It was a shambles and I’m embarrassed. It’s the most embarrassed I’ve been since I got here. I’m embarrassed for those supporters because that’s not my team out there.
“That’s what I’m mad about. There’s no rhyme or reason for it. If I’ve got to change the whole team for next week, I’ll change the whole team.
“I’ve got to be honest with the supporters and I agree with them – it was rubbish. I spoke to some supporters after the match. I just went across and they said ‘It wasn’t very good, it was hopeless’.
“I said ‘You’re right. You’re frustrated, you’re a supporter – imagine how I feel, as the manager.’ Everyone who booed today, I agreed with them. We deserved it.”
And Lovell reserved particular criticism for striker Tom Eaves, who has scored four goals already this term but was kept quiet by the Wimbledon defence.
“Tom Eaves is the top scorer at the football club – I don’t care,” added Lovell. “If he’s not going to do what I want, he won’t play, I’ll put someone else in there. Tom has got to look at himself.”
Contrastingly, Dons boss Neal Ardley was impressed by the grit his team showed to grind out an away victory, despite a less-than-vintage overall performance.
“I thought we were by far the better team in the first half – we didn’t create bundles and the conditions were difficult with the wind, but we were the better team,” said Ardley.
“And then in the second half, we challenged them to come out the same and take the game to them and ‘Pigs’ has come up with a great goal again.
“We’ve probably created more chances in other games than we did here but we were very solid at the back.
“All through the game we were better. Other than James Hanson’s shot [which hit the bar] we didn’t really do it in the final third.
“But it was a classic away performance – a dead pitch, windy conditions and we had to grind out a 1-0 but thoroughly deserved it.
“I challenged the boys to show a bit of steel in tough conditions and that’s exactly what they did.”
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