Joe Martin pleased not to give away a late penalty in Gillingham's draw at Oxford United
by Luke Cawdell
Joe Martin was a relieved to see that his side’s sterling
defensive work wasn’t undone in stoppage time at Oxford on
Saturday.
The left-back (pictured) admitted he was a worried man when
winger Oli Johnson went to ground in the box after he and the rest
of the Gillingham defence had given blood and sweat to keep their
opponents out for 92 minutes.
Referee David Coote opted to book the Oxford man and the Gills
were able to claim a clean sheet.
"It was poor defending from me to let him get into that position
in the first place but I thought he went down easily and it wasn’t
a penalty," said Martin.
"I didn’t make contact and he was already on the way down. I
have been sent off a few times when I thought I shouldn’t have done
and so you never know what these referees are going to do to be
honest."
Johnson – with pace to burn – was a late Oxford substitute who
was brought on as a last resort after everything else thrown at the
Gills defence failed to produce a goal.
"I had a lot of one-on-one defending to do and then when they
brought on a quick lad my side it was something I didn’t really
need," admitted Martin.
"We got through the game and we didn’t concede. Some people will
say we got lucky with the penalty but we haven’t always had luck
this year and that’s gone for us. That was nice.
"We defended for our lives. We couldn’t see them scoring and it
was just one of those days where it didn’t drop for us at the other
end. We will carry on for next week and try and improve that."
16/04/12
- Click here for more news from across the county...