Cheltenham boss Michael Duff wants more despite win at Gillingham

Posted Wednesday, November 24, 2021 by PA

Cheltenham manager Michael Duff was not satisfied with his team’s performance despite the 2-0 victory at struggling Gillingham.

The Robins moved up to 10th in Sky Bet League One following their third win of the season over the Gills, in what was the fourth meeting between the two this campaign, but they survived a few scares along the way.

Gillingham, who are beset by injuries and eight games without a win in all competitions, were unable to take the chances that came their way at the Priestfield Stadium and they are now just one point above the relegation zone.

Duff said: “I thought we deserved the win, based on chances, but it’s a bit of a weird emotion there.

“We’ve come away from home – it’s only our second win away from home – we’ve kept a clean sheet, but it feels like there’s a lot more in there.

“I thought it was too open today – a bit more of a basketball game than we wanted.

“When we did pass the ball, we opened them up – the second goal was a really good goal – and we could have done that a bit more.

“But it’s back-to-back wins, it’s a clean sheet, so there are loads of positives.

“It felt like an under-18s game, really, because there was so much space all over the pitch, which is not normally how we want to play.

“The back five were too deep, the front two were too high and the midfielders we were having too much ground to cover.”

Cheltenham went ahead after 29 minutes when Chris Hussey’s corner was not dealt with and Sean Long was able to slam in the ball from close range.

The Robins doubled their lead on the hour mark when Alfie May got on the end of Kyle Vassell’s header down and rounded Gillingham keeper Jamie Cumming before scoring.

Gillingham boss Steve Evans said: “We missed three golden opportunities to score, they have three chances and take two of them.

“Arguably we should defend both better, and it looks a bit more comfortable for them when they’re two up and we’re having to throw 16 and 17-year-old boys on just to try and protect lads who have done miracles to get to 80 minutes for us.

“Muzzy [Carayol] trained once last week and played 15 minutes at Crewe, he shouldn’t have been anywhere near us.

“Olly Lee trained yesterday for 10 minutes, coming back from two broken toes. He shouldn’t have been anywhere near us.

“But the one thing about both of those lads is they’ve got huge hearts and they want to play football and help us.

“The opposite is what? Start the boys who we put on the bench?”