Benno's Beat: Gillingham's Mark Bentley writes exclusively for the KM Group
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Alan Julian in despair at
Norwich Pic: Antony Kelly,
Norwich Evening News
To walk off the pitch losing 4-1 at
Norwich on Tuesday night was a real kick in the teeth and was not a
fair reflection of the game.
Looking at the goals conceded,
defensively we have to do better, and as part of the back four I’m
man enough to hold my hands up and say I need to make it more
difficult for the centre forwards, especially in Grant Holt and
Chris Martin, who will – and did – punish you if you give them half
a chance.
I have to say the pitch at Norwich is
up there with the best I have played on. As a player it gives you
that extra buzz to play on such excellent facilities.
In parts of the game we really moved
the ball well and at times put Norwich under pressure.
Chris Palmer, who has been on fire
with his goals during pre-season, took his goal well and you could
really sense a shock could have been on the cards.
That didn’t happen, unfortunately, but
it’s really important that the boys don’t get too downbeat. These
mistakes will be worked on in training and hopefully eradicated
quickly.
There are again plenty of positives to
come out of Tuesday night and we won’t come up against a strike
force like that every weekend.
The trip saw the whole squad
travelling to the game, something the gaffer has installed, keeping
everyone together. One absentee was Dennis Oli, who has caught the
bug which seems to be making its way around the dressing room. I
know that Bayo was struggling before the game but I’m sure sweating
that little bit extra would have done him a world of good.
It was nice to see Kingy and his hair
back on the bus. It saw the return of the card school which takes
the boredom out of the journey. Kingy was back to his cheeky self,
looking at my cards at every opportunity.
He has been so positive in what must
be really tough times and let’s hope we see him back in action as
soon as possible.
We have to cut out silly mistakes
if we are to get something from the game on Saturday.
We will go there with the mindset that
we can win the game and get this away-day hoodoo off our backs,
which I’m fed up of.
Hereford had a good start last week
and I have played there a few times. It’s a place where it’s going
to be difficult if you don’t start right.
I would also like to add, on behalf of
all the players, how sad we were to hear of the death of former
Hereford player Adam Stansfield.
More from Mark Bentley in Friday's Medway Messenger
newspaper. Read his thoughts on Adebayo Akinfenwa's impact and what
he thinks on the debate surrounding the booing of England
players.
Post any questions of comment to Mark by adding a
comment below or emailing medwaysport@thekmgroup.co.uk
Don't miss our live text coverage of Hereford v
Gillingham this Saturday on www.kentonline.co.uk/sport
Thursday, August 12 2010
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