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Gillingham midfielder Mark Bentley writes exclusively for the KM Group

By: KentOnline reporter multimediadesk@thekmgroup.co.uk

Published: 08:00, 04 March 2011

Cody McDonald is fouled by Shrewsbury captain Ian Sharps who was sent off in the dying minutes

Cody McDonald is brought down when clean through at Shrewsbury on Saturday

Aldershot on Tuesday was a game we went into certainly thinking that we could come away with three points. Unfortunately, it did not go that way and we had to settle for a point.

It’s disappointing and the lads were a little down after the game as they felt it was an opportunity lost in trying to close the gap on the top three.

That gap is growing so we need to make sure we turn these draws into wins.

mpu1

It’s great to extend the unbeaten run, however, that is six draws in the last seven games and in hindsight we would have preferred to win a couple and lost a couple just to accumulate more points.

Tuesday’s game was scrappy with neither side able to create many opportunities. We never got any rhythm into our passing and, as the gaffer highlighted after the game, we could have done better in the final third.

Teams are starting to become aware that we like to get the ball into Bayo who links up play with others well but teams will often have two, sometimes three, players trying to stop the ball into him.

The gaffer tried to mix our game up in the second half by putting Barch on to create more width and he is certainly someone who can change a game on his own.

Unfortunately, he didn’t impact the game as much as he would have liked but I’m sure when he becomes fitter we will see the best of him.

The positive thing to come out of the night was that we managed to get back into the game after going a goal down and we were just a lick of paint away from snatching a win at the end.

mpu2

It was pleasing to see Nutsy score a fantastic goal against his former club. He was unlucky with his free-kick in the last minute against Shrewsbury so it was nice to see the ball fly into the top corner.

Mark Bentley

Shrewsbury on Saturday was a contrasting game where we passed the ball well and never allowed them a chance to put us under pressure. We probably would have won if Cody had not been brought down.

The sending-off possibly came too late for us to take advantage of. The run of draws makes Saturday’s match against Bradford a must-win game for us.

We owe them one from earlier in the season for their last-minute winner which was arguably undeserved.

What was Ashley Cole thinking this week, shooting a poor work experience lad with his air rifle? I have seen and heard a few strange things over the years in football but this story is certainly up there with the strangest. The strangest thing to come out of one of our players’ bags is probably Alan Julian’s lucky socks which have quite a few holes in them. They are probably just as dangerous as a bullet as the stench of them could cause serious damage!

Congratulations to Matty Lawrence, who played his 600th league game this week.

It’s a fantastic achievement and shows that just because you are in your 30s it does not mean you’re finished. Well done fossil!

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