Notts County 1 Gillingham 3: Match highlights and reaction from head coach Stephen Clemence after victory at Meadow Lane in League 2
22:00, 09 February 2024
updated: 08:40, 10 February 2024
Gillingham head coach Stephen Clemence felt Friday’s win would have been felt across League 2.
The Gills have yet to make their mark in the promotion race but a 3-1 win at Notts County showed that have what it takes to mix it with some of the best in the division.
Report: Notts County 1 Gillingham 3
Goals from Oli Hawkins, Max Clark and Conor Masterson clinched the points at Notts County and lifted the Gills up to seventh in the table ahead of the Saturday action.
“It makes a bit of a statement to everyone else,” said Clemence after the win.
“For a little while now there has been a lot more respect shown recently than when I first came into the club, I think the boys have had to deal with different systems and formations against them where teams set out to stop us.
“The rest of the division will take notice that that is a good result for us away from home but it is one result and we have now got to go and follow that up and get some more.
League 2 table as it stood
“We have got a tally in mind and if we can get to that, set targets over different periods of time, if we can get to them we will have a chance of getting where we need to be but there is a lot of hard work to go as well.”
The Gills went a goal down at Notts early on but by the break were leading 2-1 and added a third after the turnaround. Only the woodwork denied Tim Dieng in the last minute.
“It had to be a different performance,” said the head coach.
“We’ve had the ball more in certain games but we had to be resilient and dig in, we had to get our tactics spot on and the boys had to show unbelievable strength of character because let’s make no bones about it, Notts Count are a very good side and I knew that coming into it, and they obviously move the ball around very well.
“You have to stay disciplined and you have got to press in the right areas and let them have it in the right areas as well and we knew that if we did that we could catch them in transition.
“We thought we would also be able to get crosses into the box and also felt we would be a threat at set-plays and I think that is how it turned out in the end but I am just really pleased for everybody, we still have a lot of work to do, games to play, but we had 950 travel up on a Friday night, which is absolutely fantastic, so thanks for their support, they were brilliant and I could hear them all night, they really helped the boys.
“When you get three points away from home, there is no better feeling as a football player or a football coach, it is hard work to get that.
“I remember the feeling myself coming away from home and when a team has a lot of possession and you have to dig in, and you have to do it with your team-mates, it is great.
“The boys knew it was going to be a tough task, we made them aware of it, they are not stupid, they know that Notts County are very good in possession and they were going to have to work their socks off and they did that, every one, then the lads that came off the bench did it as well, really proud of the group.”
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