Martin Allen pleased to end criticism of Gillingham's home form
by Luke Cawdell
Gillingham ended their long run without a home win on
Tuesday night, much to the delight of boss Martin Allen.
He has been at the sharp-end of the criticism following the
club’s dip in form at Priestfield.
Before Tuesday night’s game the Gills hadn’t won in their
previous five at home. That ended with a gritty 2-0 win over
Northampton.
“It does start to get on everyone’s back,” said Allen. “Everyone
mentions it these days, ‘you haven’t won at home, you haven’t done
this, you haven’t done that.' I have to try and deflect that and
dilute that feeling.
“The players have played a big part in it over the last couple
of days. The staff and with the atmosphere in the dressing room,
that’s the sort of dressing room we want.”
Allen – whose side sit top of League 2 - accepted that questions
and criticism were all part of the game, although he believes
people should look at the bigger picture.
“It is natural,” he said. “Supporters are going to ask, people
ask. You fill up your car with petrol and someone will shout across
the forecourt ‘sort it out at home, what you doing?’
“Some geezer sent me a letter through the post without his name
on it, or telephone or address, saying, ‘Allen, sort out the home
form, useless,' and all that sort of stuff but he never put his
mobile number on it, which is a shame.
“God bless you. It is a little like water off an old dog’s back
to me. But to our younger players, who have never experienced
anything like this before, they have been top of the league for
nearly five months and for some of these players it’s a tough
task to get used to it.
"Teams come here with a different attitude. They play five
across midfield, with a holding midfielder, and one up front. All
the teams are doing it and we have to work out how we are going to
break it down and get past it and that’s the task we face.
“(Against Northampton) we played the form team and you could see
how dangerous they were in the first half. They have some good
players and are well organised. They are a good team and it
was a very good win for all our supporters and players and for
anyone involved in our club.”
30/01/13
- Click here for more news from across the county...