Andy Hessenthaler was pleased by Gillingham's performance in 1-1 League 2 draw with Port Vale
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by Luke
Cawdell
Gillingham manager Andy Hessenthaler was pleased with his team’s
performance despite being held on home soil by Port Vale.
The Gills bossed much of Saturday's game but in the end
needed a penalty to claim a League 2 point.
Hessenthaler (pictured instructing Danny Kedwell) said: “The
players are a bit disappointed but I’m not and I can sleep quite
easily after that performance. On another day we would have won the
game.
“We didn’t win it but I was pleased with the boys as they kept
going. We got a little bit of fortunate with the retake of the
penalty and I think we earned that luck because we haven’t had that
over the last few games, especially in front of goal.”
Hessenthaler’s only gripe was the lack of finishing and a sloppy
moment at the back which led to Vale’s first half opener.
He said: “I would hate to see the stats again because I think
that’s three games now, second half at Wimbledon, against Barnet in
the JPT, and now this one where we have dominated but we haven’t
punished teams.
“You have to give Port Vale credit because they make it very
difficult and they are strong, they defend for their lives, but I
couldn’t have asked for any more from my players. I thought
they were terrific.”
Marc Richards had given Vale a 33rd minute lead.
“(They scored from a) diagonal ball, which we told the players
about, and that’s disappointing,” said the Gills boss.
“We worked on the way they play. They get the ball in and look
for Tom Pope and he is very good in the air. Matt Fish was
out-muscled a little bit and then we switched off with the knock
down. We were too deep in that instance really, but we could have
also stopped the ball from going in there quicker.
“That was us switching off, as normal, which is
disappointing.
“We were pretty flat after going in at half-time 1-0 down,
because we have dominated the game, but not scored. We told the
players to keep their heads up and they did.
“They started well and in the end got the penalty. We should
have really gone on from there but I thought we dropped off them a
little bit and we weren’t doing the things we were doing
(before).
“Over the course of the game I was delighted with the
performance and I just told them to keep doing what they are doing,
because this could be the start of a decent run, if we believe in
ourselves.”
Were you as pleased with the Gills performance as
Andy Hessenthaler was? Have your say below.
Picture: Barry
Goodwin
Saturday, October 08 2011
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