Neil Harris delighted with Gillingham’s much-improved second-half display

Posted Wednesday, February 15, 2023 by PA

Neil Harris lauded his players’ much-improved second-half display as Gillingham moved out of the Sky Bet League Two relegation zone with a 2-1 home win over Grimsby.

A drab first half in which the Mariners had the upper hand gave way to a terrific performance from the hosts after the interval, with George Lapslie tapping home on his full debut.

The Gills were pegged back in the 75th minute through Gavan Holohan’s header, but Oli Hawkins struck the winner three minutes from time – his first goal for the club since signing from Mansfield in January.

Harris admitted the first period was short on quality from both sides, but commended his team for reacting superbly to a measured half-time team-talk.

Harris said: “I can’t praise the players enough. That’s a top second-half performance. I’m not going to kid anybody – the first half was painful.

“If anybody had asked for their money back at half-time I wouldn’t have been surprised.

“But at the break I didn’t raise my voice, I just tried to find the right words of encouragement for the players.

“I feel we can score all sorts of goals right now: we’re a threat from set plays, on the counter-attack and when we get crosses in the box.

“We’re a real threat at the moment, we’re the sort of team that scares our opponents.”

Gillingham’s fourth win in six games leaves them 21st, and Harris is hoping this will give them the boost they need to survive with 17 matches remaining.

“Ben Reeves shouted out about it (being out of the relegation zone) when we got back in the changing room,” said Harris.

“It’s nice for all of us – it gives us confidence and belief. But we’ve got a long way to go and plenty of games left to play. You can’t stop. You can’t think you’ve done it.”

Grimsby boss Paul Hurst was understandably disheartened with the manner of the defeat, but the 48-year-old could not condone simple defensive errors from his team.

Hurst said: “I’m disappointed as I think we should have taken something from the game. We can do better in terms of the two goals we gave away.

“I’m frustrated as it would have been a decent point tonight. Instead we’re going home with nothing.

“We coped better with the physical side of the game tonight than we did on Saturday, but there were still times when we didn’t do some of the basics of the game.

“It might not look pretty, but the amount of times we clear it but don’t then turn the opposition around and get that breather is incredible.

“It seems to be something we’re guilty of on numerous occasions.”