Matt Gray happy to finally savour a late winner after Sutton beat Gillingham
Posted Friday, December 30, 2022 by PA
Sutton United boss Matt Gray was delighted to finally have a late goal go his side’s way after a dramatic 2-1 win over Gillingham.
Robbie McKenzie had seemingly salvaged a point for the League Two strugglers when he cancelled out team-mate Elkan Baggott’s own goal on the stroke of half-time.
But Craig Eastmond’s 93rd-minute winner condemned the basement boys to a third straight league defeat.
Gray’s side have dropped 11 points from goals conceded after the 80th minute this season but it was their turn to savour the highs of a late goal.
Gray said: “It’s certainly nice to score a late winner, we’ve had a few go against us this season.
“It happened at their place as well and to be on the right side of that for the first time this season is a great feeling.
“I thought we were the better side first half, despite it being a very stop-start game, and the 12 minutes of added time in the first half probably says it all.
“I felt the best spell was just before the goal and we deservedly went in leading.
“It was two competitive sides with no real quality. They had moments and chances in that second half and we were on the back foot.
“The crowd really got behind them and we weathered that storm. We popped up with a winner at the end and I’m really pleased.
“If you look at the two games they were both scrappy. At their place they nicked it and we’ve nicked it here.
“You’d probably say a draw in each game was fair, but we’ve both come away with three points so you can’t complain.”
Neil Harris saw his Gillingham side suffer a second defeat of the holiday period.
And he will be desperate to start 2023 in better form as they look to avoid the drop to non-league football for the first time since 1950.
The Gills boss said: “It’s a real gut wrencher. It wasn’t a performance which deserved us getting beat.
“We had the best chances, we missed three or four good chances.
“We scored a brilliant goal and were in the ascendency. We just lost our way a little bit at the end.
“I feel for the boys. I thought for 25 minutes we were the better team and should have been in front.
“I thought we had a stonewall penalty turned down by a referee I thought was horrific today.
“We conceded a poor first goal where we didn’t compete and I’m really disappointed with the back line. I haven’t said that much this year.
“It was a really poor goal to concede. The fan reaction at half-time wasn’t pleasant and I thought second half we were miles the better team.
“We should have scored more and then we have the sucker punch at the end.”
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