John Schofield isn't getting down over Gillingham's home defeat to Oxford United
Deon Burton tries in vain to find a way to
goal.
Picture: Barry Goodwin
by Luke Cawdell
Gillingham assistant manager John Schofield was keen to look at
the bigger picture rather than focus solely on Tuesday’s defeat at
home to Oxford.
A 1-0 home loss had no bearing on the
league table as results elsewhere left Gillingham two points clear
at the top of League 2.
Schofield said: "We have 46 games to
play and the target over 46 games is to get as many points as we
can.
"We are not happy to lose any game but
over the course of the season there are going to be games where we
don’t take points out of them. We have a goal that we are aiming
for and we will be judged on that over 46 games.
"We are still top of the league and I
believe we have earned the right over the course of a season not to
pick points up in certain games. Are we disappointed? Of course we
are. But judge us over 46 games.
"It is always disappointing not to
pick points up but we have to remain positive."
The Gills failed to score at
Priestfield and it was young substitute Bradley Dack who came
closest, with a close-range effort that was blocked by visiting
keeper Luke McCormick.
"Within 30 seconds of coming on he has
arrived in the middle of the box, unmarked and picked up a second
ball but caught it too sweet," said Schofield.
"He has that knack of getting in the
box. He is going to score goals and he is going to score goals at
every level that he plays at. Whatever that level is and the way he
works and trains, he can go all the way to the top."
The Gills also introduced
new recruit Antonio German – after signing him on the eve of
the match from Brentford.
"He has come in at the fifth hour and
that makes it difficult," said the Gills No.2. "He has got on
and got a chance and there is more to come from him, for sure. He
was nice and positive and he played off the shoulder, competed for
the second balls and I thought he was unlucky a couple of
times.
"He got crowded out a few times but we
have to remember Oxford are fighting and scrapping and they have
had some good victories this year. "
The Gills were dealt another blow in
the match after Myles Weston limped off with a foot injury.
"That was disappointing but what it
does is give other people a chance," said Schofield.
"We had to slightly change our
game-plan but overall when you look at it we had good spells and
good chances. Dack came on and was really unlucky with his first
touch of the ball and I think he caught it too well.
"If he doesn’t catch it well it goes
in the corner but great save by the keeper. We created three or
four good chances in the game, didn’t take them, but that’s
football."
26/02/13
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