Lovell takes positives from performance against in-form Luton despite result

Posted Sunday, November 25, 2018 by PA

Gillingham boss Steve Lovell insists his side can take plenty of heart from a battling performance despite a 3-1 home defeat at the hands of high-flying Luton.

Andrew Shinnie’s first-half strike and Elliot Lee’s double took the Hatters to their seventh league win in nine, while moving them up to fourth in the League One table.

But Gills showed fight, the league’s top scorer Tom Eaves netting a late consolation, although it was not enough to prevent a third straight league defeat.

“I think that for most of the game we matched them,” said Lovell. “At the start of the game, even at 1-0 down, I thought that if we got the next goal we’d go on and get the win.

“There wasn’t a lot in the game apart from the goals, but that’s what wins them.

“We can take a lot of heart from that performance and build from it.

“It was a more than a decent performance without getting the result. I can’t ask for any more, they gave it everything.

“You can see why Luton are scoring for fun, they’ve got quality players who can finish. Their first goal was a give and go, their lad finished it well.

“If we’d have scored their third goal we’d have said well done. It seemed like every chance they got in the box they scored.

“We were in their half more than they were in ours in the second half.”

Town midfielder Shinnie opened the scoring after 25 minutes, firing home from the edge of the box to end a move started by former Gills loanee Harry Cornick.

Lee then capitalised on poor defending to double the lead before a scintillating Cornick run helped Lee bag his second, although manager Nathan Jones knows improvements can still be made.

“The first goal was the one and only time we were brave enough to get it down in the first half,” he said.

“They are scrapping for their lives and they matched us up with a diamond in midfield so it was difficult to find space.

“We looked at the stats and they showed that Gillingham either score or concede in the first 15 minutes of the second half.

“We didn’t want to come out and give them a lift, we started very well. It was a good move to score the second and Elliot showed real quality to finish from there.

“It was a great stretching run from Harry Cornick for the third – it was a shame that he couldn’t finish it off but I don’t care who scores.

“Effectively the game was over then but we had a few hairy moments as Gillingham went even more direct. We used all of our strength and physicality to see it out.”