Gillingham boss Neil Harris pleased to see training ground work pay off in win

Posted Sunday, March 13, 2022 by PA

Gillingham boss Neil Harris was pleased to see his side’s work on the training ground pay dividends as they secured a valuable victory at relegation rivals Doncaster.

The Gills claimed all three points at the Eco-Power Stadium courtesy of a Charlie Kelman header inside the first minute.

The 20-year-old’s header came from a long throw and Harris says the tactic was a necessary one as he was light on attacking options.

“With the personnel we’ve got available, we are quite limited in terms of the attacking avenues that are open to us,” Harris said.

“We are missing five flair players, so we have to be realistic. We’ve been working on long throws and set-pieces and the goal was testament to the players’ learning potential.

“It was poor defending from them letting the ball bounce in the box, but we had seen that as a trait in their play in terms of defending the first ball.”

Harris was also delighted to see on-loan QPR forward Kelman open his account for the club.

“Charlie deserves that goal. He’s a hard-working player and a young man finding his way into the game,” he said.

“People who aren’t strikers, sometimes don’t understand our mindset.

“Having been one myself, we are a different breed and, when you haven’t scored for a while, it does prey on your mind and I’ve seen that in his play and on the training pitch, but I also thought he was a real handful without the ball today.”

The win leaves Gillingham inside the relegation zone on goal difference only.

Doncaster boss Gary McSheffrey is refusing to give up hope that his side can secure survival in their remaining eight games after witnessing another opportunity slip by to claw back the margin to safety.

Rovers have seen results go their way in the last three matchdays in League One but have failed to pick up points to deliver a shot in the arm to their chances of staying up.

“You have to take the positives out of it,” McSheffrey said. “Obviously the result is not positive but it’s the most we’ve played in a game for a few weeks.

“You have to be upbeat in on the training pitch.

“Gillingham have gained an advantage with this result but they’re the only team that have this weekend. Everyone else lost so it’s still the exact same number of points required to get out of it.

“We have to just keep fighting and keep believing while the opportunity is there and while it is mathematically possible.

“I said to the lads that they huffed and puffed but I need to see more desire from them to hurt the opposition and make them defend more.

“We need to have more belief and shoot more when the opportunity is there.

“We need the supporters to keep backing us like they have been because they’ve been superb.”