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The Shouting Men: Gillingham defender Bradley Garmston writes exclusively for the KM Group

00:00, 19 January 2018

Set-pieces are something I want to add to my game and I was happy to get on the scoresheet last weekend with a free-kick.

It was a difficult game, we weren’t playing great, a bit scrappy at times and it wasn’t my best performance, either, which I’m happy to admit.

It was the first home game I had started for a while after being out injured and to hear the reaction from the fans, after scoring, gave me a real good lift.

Bradley Garmston is congratulated on his free-kick goal against Rochale by team-mate Tom Eaves Picture: Andy Jones
Bradley Garmston is congratulated on his free-kick goal against Rochale by team-mate Tom Eaves Picture: Andy Jones

I try and replicate set-piece situations whenever we get a break in training. We don’t have many left-footers in the team and there is always a chance I would be put on set-pieces.

It is something I want to improve on and something I practise every day.

As soon as I saw the free-kick awarded I wanted it. Luke O’Neill and Lee Martin were there too. Luke said ‘why don’t we roll it there and you shoot?’ I said ‘that sounds good, let’s do that’.

I tried to do it quite subtly, walking away to make it look like I wasn’t going to take it. Lee Martin pointed to the right for Luke but then rolled it down my side, I aimed to the near post and it went in.

Corners are also something I wanted to get on. I’ll talk to the boys and see what delivery they want, what areas to hit and work on the consistency.

I have been unfortunate with injuries and a lot of people have spoken to me and said ‘this time ease your way in, don’t go 100%, don’t go full out’.

I have had to adapt because I don’t want to hold back in training. I have always been 100% in the past but sometimes you have to take a different approach.

I spoke to the gaffer around the time of the Fleetwood and Carlisle games and he asked me how I was feeling. He could tell that I was holding back and it was almost like a mental barrier.

He put the ball in my court and said ‘come to me when you’re ready’ and I did appreciate that. There was no pressure and there was no rush for me to overdo myself in training.

Three points last Saturday helped us move further up that table, putting a bigger gap between us and the bottom four and that is our aim really.

I know there has been talk about reaching the play-off positions but we don’t want to get carried away with anything.

Read the full column in this week's Medway Messenger.

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