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Gillingham head coach Stephen Clemence wants to build on away draw against Forest Green Rovers with two home games over Christmas period

Gillingham head coach Stephen Clemence admitted there’s no shame in picking up a point away from home.

While disappointed the Gills were unable to convert a couple of golden chances in the second half to claim all three points at Forest Green on Friday night, Clemence was at least able to draw comfort from his first away point in the league and a third shut-out in four matches in all competitions.

Gillingham head coach Stephen Clemence. Picture: @Julian_KPI
Gillingham head coach Stephen Clemence. Picture: @Julian_KPI

“We’d have loved to have won the game but if you go away from home and pick up a point on the road, that’s fine,” said Clemence after the goalless draw with lowly Forest Green.

“We’ve only drawn one game all season, that’s the second game I believe we’ve drawn. It’s okay to draw your away games sometimes, it doesn’t matter who you are playing against.

“Of course, you want to win all the games (but) it’s not always going to happen.

“We’ve got two home games coming up and now we’ve got to look forward to those.”

It was only a second draw in League 2 this season for Gillingham.

Their previous stalemate was a 1-1 draw at home to Mansfield in late September.

“We’ve had three clean sheets in four games but the disappointing one was to let in two against Bradford,” noted Clemence.

“If you come away from home in any division and keep a clean sheet, that’s good.

“We haven’t drawn enough games this year, I don’t know why. But that’s been while I’ve been here and before.

“We know goalscoring has been a bit of a problem but it’s okay to go away from home and get a point. If we can try and win our home game then that will be fine.”

Clemence tried to be positive, making effectively a triple change in the second half, albeit there was a slight delay in Jonny Williams coming on while his shirt was retrieved from the dressing room.

The Gills also introduced Ashley Nadesan and Tom Nichols, which meant Oli Hawkins remained unused.

“I regard Jayden Clarke, Macauley Bonne and George Lapslie as forward players,” said Clemence.

“It was pretty much like for like, we just wanted some more energy and to see if they could give us more impetus, and I thought they did that. The subs that came on were decent, they made a difference.

“I wanted to win the game, I didn’t come here for a point, I promise you. I came here to win the game. It shocked us a bit in the first half with how they played but once we got to grips with that and made adjustments at half-time, if any team was going to win it, it would have been us. We ran out of time in the end.

“I felt there was a little bit of space in behind for Nadesan to exploit and he combines well with Nico, it’s very hard to get all three of them on the pitch at the same time, you can become a bit gung-ho and you get done on the counter-attack.

“They were the two I went with but it could be different (next game), we’ve got to look at what the opposition give you and try to exploit that.”

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