Gillingham first team coach Nicky Southall writes exclusively for the KM Group
08:00, 17 February 2012
It's not happening for us at the moment but we need to be patient and pull together.
We just need that win to hopefully kickstart us to a few more victories. We have a lot of games coming up in a short space of time and can easily go on a run and build some momentum.
We started quite well on Monday night – for the first eight minutes – and then the ball ends up in our net. We couldn’t believe it. It seemed to shock us a bit and we went into our shells.
They got the second goal and we were like a rabbit caught in the headlights.
We got them in at half-time, changed the formation, made a couple of changes and it seemed to reinvigorate us.
We have given people last chances more or less this week and it didn’t work. You can only have so many chances and we may have to change.
We have young academy players who will get on the ball, play and pass it and that’s what we and the fans want to see. We want players expressing themselves.
We don’t tell the players to go out and hoof balls in the air.
When we have players like Jo Kuffour and Gavin Tomlin upfront, it’s no point them chasing balls that are six or seven foot up in the air. You need to get the ball to feet. Tomlin showed what he can do with the ball and the goal he scored was not just the goal of the game but possibly of the season. It was fantastic.
hey have a big pitch at Port Vale and we need to get the ball down and use the space. That’s what we’ll be telling the players. We will go there with no fear.
The manager has made his comments about the young kids and we need to see where we go with this. The only way these players will get experience is by us giving them a chance.
Jack Payne is young but he is a proper player and he got us playing when he came on. We got the ball down and everything went through him.
Young Jack Evans also came on and he gave us the width with the diamond formation in midfield. He did superbly well and looked a real threat going forward down the flanks.
Connor Essam made his debut as well. He has been itching to get on the pitch. It’s taken him a while to get there but he did himself no harm in front of the cameras. We also had Paulo in goal and couldn’t fault him for either of the goals. His handling, kicking and distribution on the floor was great. He has massive potential.
We are always out and about and on Tuesday we went to watch Aldershot versus Hereford, which meant another late night but we are desperate to get things right.
We know what the fans are going through. We are all desperate for success and just want to get things right.