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Gillingham first-team coach Nicky Southal writes exclusively for the KM Group

Nicky Southall
Nicky Southall

We’ve had a tough time picking the team recently and that’s not been helped by a number of suspensions we’ve picked up.

The booking that Lewis Montrose received last weekend was ridiculous and he is now out for two matches.

Lewis is all-action, he likes to get stuck in and loves a tackle but the referee was five yards away and he clearly won the ball, with one foot, it wasn’t two-footed. It was a fine tackle and the referee threw the yellow card in his face.

The crazy thing about it is that you can’t appeal these yellow cards. It’s madness. There are lads getting docked salary with fines and losing their place in the team because of errors from referees.

We have lost a big player now ahead of the games against Cheltenham and Crawley. At the moment we daren’t put a team up on the board as it changes so quickly.

It’s lastminute.com at the minute with selection and it’s not been easy.

Luckily, we had a game on Tuesday against Wycombe with players such as Andy Frampton and Matt Fish having a run-out as they come back from injury. Jordan Obita also played a part as he was out with tonsillitis on Saturday.

Obita’s absence is a prime example of the problems we are facing. He did well in midweek with a goal but then he phoned up on Friday night too ill to make it. All of a sudden we didn’t have him and had to shuffle the pack again.

We are getting tested to the full and that’s why you need a good squad. Hopefully, we’ll pick the right team for a massive and difficult away trip to Cheltenham.

Last weekend we saw another bizarre game at Priestfield and we were gutted to have lost it in the manner we did. The boys put in a brave performance to come back from 3-1 down to 3-3 and then to lose it at the end was devastating.

Despite the setback, we are still upbeat and need to start another run now.

There were lots of positives to take from the weekend and it was fantastic to see young Ashley Miller score his first for the club. It was his goal that got it back to 3-3 and after the game their manager and coaching staff sat with us in the office and they, like us, believed there was only one team to win it - us. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be.

It was great to see so many young players on the pitch in the game including Crewe’s Nick Powell, who like Miller, is just 17. We went to the Football League awards on Sunday night and he was named League 2 apprentice of the year.

We had a nice chat with him and he is going to be a fantastic talent. I am sure he will be in the Premier League one day. His first goal was extraordinary.

Nobody gave Cheltenham much hope of doing well this season but they’ve kept going and must have a great team spirit and work ethic under manager Mark Yates. They have had a fabulous season and it’s getting to the stage now where with 11 or 12 games left, you don’t want it all to fall by the wayside after that effort.

We are expecting another tough game, like it was last time we went there. We went 1-0 down but got two late goals from Cody McDonald.

We beat them 1-0 at our place on the first day of this season. We need to pick a side which will match them physically.

After the weekend, we have a big one against Crawley on Tuesday but we can’t get ahead of ourselves. We know Cheltenham are on bit of a downward curve and they will want to bounce back.

Kent Matchday Live
Kent Matchday Live
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