Gillingham winger Hakeeb Adelakun scores first goal since loan from Lincoln City in FA Cup win over Dagenham & Redbridge
05:00, 12 December 2022
updated: 07:08, 12 December 2022
Hakeeb Adelakun showed just what he can do for Gillingham in the FA Cup.
Manager Neil Harris hopes the winger - on loan from Lincoln City - can now replicate that a bit more often. Adelakun capped a positive performance against Dagenham with the last-gasp winner.
Adelakun’s first goal for the Gills came after 24 matches for the club, following his August move south from League 1 Lincoln City. He started and finished the move against the Daggers, running box to box as he linked up with Scott Kashket before hitting a fine finish to clinch the win.
“Hakeeb Adelakun - welcome to Gillingham!” said his boss Harris. “That’s what he came in for, that is what he has produced in the past, that is what we want to see.
“He has the ability to do it and I hope that gives him the confidence and the belief to do that more often.”
Adelakun joined the Gills on a season-long loan after starting twice for the Imps in League 1 in the opening days of the campaign. Harris ended a summer-long chase to clinch the signing of the 26-year-old in mid-August.
His goal booked the Gills a place in Round Three of the competition and a home game against Leicester City on January 7.
Elkan Baggott - who scored Gills’ first goal in the 3-2 win, was equally pleased, saying: “It was an unbelievably worked goal, especially so late in the game, to have the legs to get up the pitch was really good.
"In training, week in, week out, he is slotting it left and right, it was about time that happened in a game and, thankfully for the whole team, he did it.
“I had a great view of the goal, I was right in the centre and praying Hakeeb slotted it away and he did.”
Kashket was key to the winner, bursting down the flank to receive a pass from Adelakun before then playing his team-mate in to score.
Harris knows Kashket still has work to do, however.
He said: “The timing of his runs has got to be better, we all understand that, he has got to learn to be more patient with his movement because he is so quick and sharp.”
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