Ndjoli was in tears after double penalty miss but will bounce back – Evans

Posted Sunday, October 06, 2019 by PA

Gillingham manager Steve Evans revealed Mikael Ndjoli was in tears at full-time after the striker missed two penalties in his side’s 3-1 Sky Bet League One win against 10-man Southend.

Ndjoli hit the post with his first effort after 72nd-minute before Southend goalkeeper Mark Oxley tipped his second spot-kick round the post three minutes later.

The 20-year-old’s failure from 12 yards did not halt the Gills’ charge, with goals from Alfie Jones, Stuart O’Keefe and Brandon Hanlan sealing the points against the managerless visitors – who also had Emile Acquah sent off in the second half.

And Evans threw his weight behind Ndjoli, who he worked so hard to sign from Bournemouth in the summer.

“After his second miss he was sensational. I thought he was terrific. The kid was in tears at full-time so I reminded him that we love him,” he said.

“I worked really hard to sign him – he had multiple options and I promised his mum I’d look after him if he joined us. I watched him last year for Kilmarnock against Rangers at Ibrox and saw he had a lot in his locker.

“He won’t miss many more penalties – his finishing is normally top class. I have no qualms about him taking a penalty if we get one next week.

“The boys believed in themselves today – even (Southend caretaker) Gary (Waddock) said to me it could have been eight or nine today.

“They had a five-minute spell when they were chucking the ball up to two strikers bigger than Big Ben but we saw that passage out and we went about our business well.”

Gillingham moved up to 15th, seven places and nine points better off than Southend – who have lost nine of their 11 league games this season and sit five points from safety.

Caretaker boss Waddock has already received the players’ vote of confidence, with striker Simon Cox – who got their solitary goal here – urging the club to keep him, even if it is not in the top job.

But Waddock remained tight-lipped on his future, insisting he has heard nothing yet from the club.

“The chairman will make a decision in the best interests of the club. I’m sure he’ll make the right decision and I’ll respect that,” he said.

“I’m doing this job on a day-to-day basis and I’ll continue to prepare the team until the chairman makes his call.

“There are a lot of points left to play for. Five points can be turned around quickly if the club can get some momentum.

“We were poor in the first half today and the second half was probably too eventful.

“It’s another defeat but there were spells in the second half during which I can’t fault the players’ attitude. We had them rocking for a little bit.”