Stalemate felt like a win for Gillingham boss Neil Harris after early dismissal

Posted Sunday, September 04, 2022 by PA

Gillingham boss Neil Harris said his side’s goalless draw with Swindon felt like a win after they were forced to play most of the Sky Bet League Two clash with 10 men.

The result, which came after Gills debutant Haji Mnoga was dismissed for picking up two yellow cards inside the opening 10 minutes, extended their winless – and scoreless – run to five league matches.

Nevertheless, Harris was proud of the result against a team he believes are one of the best in the division.

“It’s not the win we wanted and it’s not the goals we wanted,” he said. “But it feels like that in so many ways because you play against a good football team that move the ball and overload you and hurt you.

“It’s difficult to play against but fortunately we’ve experienced it a few times and you have to just find a way.

“You put the (formation) out but it’s the boys who deliver. Yes, Glenn (Morris) made some saves, but it was really impressive – I’m extremely happy today.”

Harris, who oversaw the club’s relegation to the fourth tier last season, also paid tribute to a young member of the club’s matchday staff, Danielle Cubitt, who died this week.

Believing Saturday’s galvanising performance demonstrated the unity at Priestfield, he added: “Forget anything else, we wanted to make them proud today.

“When we went down to 10 men, I feared we could get opened up against probably the best football team in the division I’ve seen.

“But the boys stood strong and put in a performance befitting any Gillingham team since I’ve been here, or that I played against.

“And in a dark time for a whole family, hopefully they can take some solace in the fact that the team delivered for them.”

The stalemate sees Gillingham stay just outside the relegation places after seven league games while the Robins sit 14th.

Town boss Scott Lindsey was less than impressed with his team’s inability to utilise their numerical advantage and believes the early dismissal did little to help their chances.

“It was always going to be difficult coming here,” Lindsey said. “Weirdly, I don’t think the sending-off helped us out, they banked in even more and nullified our spaces.

“We huffed and puffed but couldn’t break them down.”

The Robins manager saw his team fire 23 attempts at the Gillingham goal but only four were on target.

“I thought there was more movement in the second half than there was in the first,” he added. “We created chances but we just couldn’t break them down.

“We feel really disappointed that we missed an opportunity to take all three points.”