Mark Bonner sees room for improvement after Gillingham’s defeat of Barrow

Posted Sunday, September 29, 2024 by PA

Gillingham boss Mark Bonner stressed improvements have to be made despite the 2-0 victory over Barrow in Sky Bet League Two.

The Gills took the points in a top-of-the-table clash as Barrow boss Stephen Clemence endured an unhappy return to Priestfield.

Goals from Jayden Clarke and Robbie McKenzie either side of the break did the damage as Glenn Morris made a string of good second-half saves to keep the Bluebirds at bay.

“I wasn’t pleased with the performance,” insisted Bonner. “But to beat a good side and keep a clean sheet when you’re not at your best is obviously pleasing.

“It was an opportunity for us to be really dominant with the ball and we were sloppy. We ended up running much bigger distances than we needed to in the heat.

“The dressing room is really pleased that we’ve got another clean sheets, another three points and another home win, but there’s frustration because we’re a better team than that.

“The first goal was brilliant. Robbie’s done brilliant, he’s travelled well and found a really good pass. And that’s why we’re frustrated because that’s what we can do.

“For me, we wanted to be more dominant than we were, but of course we’ll take the result.

“They made the game look like how they wanted it to, but that’s the battle.

“In the end it’s enough to get through the afternoon. But there’s miles more to come from us and a lot better to come from us.”

Clemence was without the spine of his team with goalkeeper Paul Farman, captain Niall Canavan and midfielder Kian Spence missing.

He said: “We’ve got five key players missing at the moment and the only one who’s likely to be back with us soon is Kian.

“Niall Canavan is going to be out for four to six weeks and Farms will be out for six to eight weeks.

“It’s one of those things at the moment for us. We’ve got some big players missing for us, but I’ve got a good squad and I trust all of them.

“It’s an opportunity for others to come in and they have to step up.

“It’s not about my return to Gillingham. I’m just disappointed we’ve not got any points on the board.

“I’m not going to go into the errors for the goals, but we want to do better with those.

“This game isn’t going to define our season. We’ve gone toe-to-toe with Gillingham, who haven’t lost at home since Christmas, and they’ve not played us off the park.

“We’ve got to dust ourselves off and go again at Doncaster on Tuesday.”