Doncaster Rovers 0 Gillingham 1: Reaction from Gills boss Neil Harris as Charlie Kelman scores winner in League 1 relegation battle
18:00, 12 March 2022
updated: 20:12, 13 March 2022
Gillingham were hanging on at the end against Doncaster but boss Neil Harris insists he was feeling calm on the sideline.
It was a fourth win in nine games for Harris as his adopted team continue to push towards safety - it’s the kind of form that over the course of a season would have left the Gills challenging for the play-offs. Gillingham had only won three games in their previous 28 before the former Millwall boss was appointed.
The play-offs are not to be for the Gills unfortunately but a 1-0 win at Doncaster leaves them level on points with the team outside of the relegation zone. It's big progress for a team who not long ago were being written off as League 2-bound.
Speaking after their latest positive outing, Harris said: “With only one goal in it, with so much at stake, you do fear that they may score a goal but there was a shot across the box that was never going in really, Pontus (Dahlberg, the goalkeeper) makes one good save and I actually thought we were more likely to score the second goal, from a counter-attack or a set-play.
“I was quite calm to be honest, I trusted my team and we didn’t have a lot of options on my bench to change the team or effect the game, the players on the pitch at the end were players I thought I could rely on shape wise and I felt relatively comfortable.
“I can control it with my subs and with my (team’s) shape but sometimes when you have very, very limited options, there is not a lot going through your mind.”
Charlie Kelman scored the only goal of the game, in the first minute.
It was a hard-working effort from the Gills, backs against the wall at times, but they were defensively sound and picked up a fifth clean sheet in Harris’ short time in charge.
Harris, down to 15 senior players at the weekend, said: “I would like us to be better and to have got a second and third goal and for us to have been more productive, of course I would, but personnel sometimes dictate.
“We did have chances, we could have scored again and Vadaine (Oliver) is disappointed with two headers, one was blocked in the six-yard box and was going in the far corner.
“If it means winning games 1-0, drawing 0-0 or nicking a game 2-1, so be it until the end of the season, it is just about winning games of football now, that is the mentality I have got and the players are delivering.
“I knew Doncaster could play direct or build the play, so I wasn’t sure quite what to expect, but the onus was on them once we went infront to try and play through us, around us, and I thought we stood up really strong.
“First half no issues whatsoever, second half as you would expect for a team fighting for their lives, trailing at home to a team above them, they are going to throw caution to the wind, we saw at the end they had a chance after leaving one versus one at the back. I thought there was a professional foul on Vadaine, he was through on goal and the referee should have given a foul and a red card, he didn’t and they almost went up the other end and scored, that is the fine lines.”
Harris added: “We knew the magnitude of the game and the importance of a result and it sets us up nicely for a big week.”
The Gills are away to Charlton Athletic on Tuesday night.