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Will Wright played a key role in Gillingham's weekend clean sheet at Hartlepool after replacing Elkan Baggott in the team

Gillingham defender Will Wright hopes he’s done enough to keep his place in the team after Saturday’s goalless draw.

The Gills clinched a point from their trip north and Wright was back in the team after sitting and watching the previous two games from the bench. He was included while Elkan Baggott travelled to Indonesia for international duty. Wright took his chance well, helping the Gills to a clean sheet.

Will Wright hopes he's done enough to persuade manager Neil Harris to keep him in the team Picture: Barry Goodwin
Will Wright hopes he's done enough to persuade manager Neil Harris to keep him in the team Picture: Barry Goodwin

“I had to take it on the chin and look at my own performances,” said the 25-year-old after being left out. “(I had to) try and fight to get back into the team, maybe a stroke of luck with Elkan being away on international duty, but I feel like the work I have put in over the last couple of weeks, I deserved my start.

“We got a clean sheet, I was happy with me performance, so hopefully I can keep my shirt.

“I think defensive wise I was happy with how I played. My home debut I think I played well but it was definitely one of my better performances so far.”

Defender Wright, who joined from National League Dagenham this summer, had been a regular starter at the beginning of the season but got dropped to the bench for the Swindon home game, coming on as a substitute, before being unused in the next two.

“I have had a little bit of being patient,” he said. “A little bit of maybe learning with the gaffer’s style, I have worked hard on the training ground and think I got my just rewards by getting a start on Saturday. “For us as a defensive unit a clean sheet is what we set out to achieve, from our point of view we have done our job.

“I played the first seven games, felt like I did okay, we have a lot of new players, it is not just me settling in, it might be a bit different for me, it is my first season in the EFL, but once we gel together it will start going our way.

“I have enjoyed the challenge so far, I do think the National League is very strong as well at the moment, I don’t think the gap is as big as I probably thought it was going to be, hopefully I can rack up as many appearances as I can this season and stand me in good stead.”

He felt the point was well-deserved on Saturday, saying: “On balance it was a fair result, the wind played a massive part in the game, we probably controlled the game to an extent in the first half and then they had a little late onslaught in the end, we made some blocks and we had one off the line before half-time as well, so probably a fair result overall.

“We came away from home looking to start building, to make building blocks for our season, it is important to not concede and not lose a game, we are just looking for that killer at the other end, hopefully it starts coming soon because we need to start scoring goals.”

Wright knows he has a part to play as well, often taking set-pieces or being in the box trying to get on the end of one.

He said: “The longer it goes on you start snatching at things, at times, because we are all desperate to score, it is not just the forwards, it is up from set-pieces, we had a couple flash across the goal, it is just about one of us, maybe a bit of luck, to stick one into the back of the net. Hopefully once one falls in the floodgates will open.”

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