Gillingham 0 Fleetwood 0: Match highlights and reaction from Gills manager Neil Harris after Priestfield stalemate
Published: 18:00, 18 April 2022
Updated: 10:42, 19 April 2022
For the second game of the Easter weekend Gillingham manager Neil Harris admitted it was a missed opportunity for his team.
On Good Friday at Cheltenham the Gills twice let a lead slip as the game ended 2-2 and on Easter Monday, against fellow relegation scrappers Fleetwood Town, the match ended goalless.
Commenting on the match, Harris said: “We deserved to win the game and there was only one team trying to win the game. For me the weekend has been a missed opportunity for us, not to pick up more points than the two we got.
“I was disappointed with my team for the first half hour, we weren’t good enough, it looked like we played the occasion, looked very nervy, miss-placed passed, miss-controlled the ball. Then after that the best chance of the game fell to Charlie Kelman, from six yards out, and that did settle us down.
"We got the fans behind us, really got into good areas of the pitch and created chances and ultimately did enough to win the game.
“We need to make more chances at home, we can’t just rely on set-plays, or a moment of magic from someone, we have to do better.
“I am disappointed and I am a bit agitated that we have not won the game, I told my players we need better quality. I am agitated that we didn’t win the game at Cheltenham because we gave two really poor goals away.”
Kelman was sent off in the match for a challenge that also led to Fleetwood's Paddy Lane being dismissed.
Harris felt the decision to send Kelman off was harsh while another big incident involving the striker had seen him go down under pressure in the box, another incident he was left to question with the referee after the game.
"Decisions make football matches," he said, adding: "We didn’t not win the game because of that."
There was a big crowd at Priestfield - 8,436 the biggest of the season for the Gills - but Harris admitted some of his players didn’t play up to it.
He said: “When we gave them something to get excited about they were with us, they came because the team is massively improved and they wanted to come and see their group.
“For half an hour we looked edgy. I have a lot of inexperienced players and for half an hour a lot of players didn’t handle the magnitude of the game or the fanbase, which for me, it’s only 8,000. If the players want to go on to bigger and better things then they are going to have to handle that much better.
“After the first 30 minutes there was only one team trying to win the game and that was us.”
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Luke Cawdell