Mark Bonner ‘buzzing’ as Gillingham beat leaders to end their wait for a win

Posted Sunday, November 10, 2024 by PA

Mark Bonner was a happy man after Gillingham got back to winning ways as they stunned Sky Bet League Two table-toppers Port Vale 1-0.

The Gills had picked up just one point from their previous six league outings before Darren Moore’s flying charges came to Priestfield.

But Jayden Clarke came off the bench to score the 79th-minute goal which inflicted Vale’s first league defeat in 10 games, a run stretching back to the end of August.

Bonner said: “We’re buzzing. Let’s be honest. We are relieved because we needed to win and today was always going to be a tough one to win.

“The fact that we have beaten a team by one goal to nil, who are unbeaten in 10 or whatever it is, two back-to-back manager of the months. They are absolutely flying.

“We are absolutely delighted. Everyone deserves that winning feeling again. It’s been too long, but it puts us in a really nice position after a horrible run.

“They had a really good chance in the second half but other than that we gave them absolutely nothing.

“I thought without the ball we were brilliant and our pressing and intensity in the first half-hour was class.

“In the end we had some really good spells of control, without creating loads in a few of those moments.

“The substitutes were excellent impacting the game. Even in the end it didn’t feel like we were hanging on. We were holding the game.”

It has been a long time since Moore has experienced the sour taste of defeat and he said: “I am bitterly disappointed.

“I am bitterly disappointed that the run of games we have been on has come to an end in that fashion.

“Priestfield is always a difficult place, as I’ve always known it over the years.

“I thought that in the first half we didn’t get out of the traps. I got in at half-time and said that the one good thing about it is that it’s 0-0.

“We had a penalty shout, which Ronan [Curtis], I have to believe him, as he would end up tapping it into the goal, but he went down. He said it was a penalty, but we played on. The referee decided to play on, so we accept that.

“We get to the second half, and I just thought that it swung on that chance that we had in the second half.

“We had a glorious chance to go 1-0 up, and we missed the opportunity. I think that if it goes in, then the pendulum is well in our favour because of the form that they have been on here and the form that we have been on.

“We didn’t take it, and it was a matter of keeping our focus and concentration. The goal, from our perspective, is a poor goal to give away.”