ANDY HESSENTHALER led the praise for two-goal Tommy Johnson who came within seconds of being acclaimed Gillingham’s match-winner in Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Coventry (Tony Hudd writes).

The 32-year-old former Derby, Aston Villa and Celtic striker rejuvenated Gillingham’s shot shy-attack with his first goals of the season after arriving as a 41st minute substitute for the injured Rod Wallace.

With two sizzling left foot drives, Gillingham’s super-sub equalised and then put his side ahead with five minutes remaining before Coventry equalised in the final minute.

For Johnson it was the moment when he stepped in from the cold after failing to make an impact at the start of the season. Afterwards the Gills boss confirmed he had received the striker’s message loud and clear having left him on the sidelines

“I hear what he’s telling me because he wants a run in the side,” he said. “He's been getting stick from people and I’ve left him out.

“Now I’m hoping his confidence is going to be high after today and that he can carry on scoring and get his place back in the side.

“People looking at his goals on television will see how clever he is, especially when he scored the second.

“If he had a touch and carried the ball on, then the defender may have caught him up. But he hit it so early that he caught their goalkeeper by surprise and because of the greasy surface it flew past him.

“As for the first goal, he let the ball run across his body and then cracked it home all in one movement. That’s what he’s all about, he’s got a great left foot and we’ve got to get him into those positions more often because he will certainly score goals for us.”

Johnson's brace made it a bitter-sweet afternoon for Gillingham who were heading for a third away win in the league when Coventry’s Julian Joachim struck a last minute equaliser.

“That was a kick in the teeth,” said Hessenthaler. “It feels like we lost the game, that’s how bad it is. You look at their second goal and think we must defend better. You’ve got to pick up people in those situations.

“Where was the marking? I’ve had a right go at them in the dressing room. That’s two points thrown away at the death and we can’t afford to do that again. People praised our tackling but you’ve got to tackle well for 90 minutes, not 89.

“We had a lot of the ball in the first half and that’s when we should have punished Coventry.”

Wallace, whom Johnson replaced, was carried off on a stretcher and faces another spell on the sidelines. His ankle is badly swollen.