Gillingham manager Mark Bonner admitted Saturday’s match against Millwall wasn’t the prettiest.
Bonner’s men had spent the last two weeks working overtime to get in shape and it’s fitness-first for the Gills at this stage. The weekend match ended goalless.
Report: Gillingham 0 Millwall 0
Bonner said: “In the end, the game (against Millwall) was about fitness, and it is so boring isn’t it? It’s about getting 45 minutes gameplay at the end of a busy two weeks.
“The lads have worked their socks off and we have bombarded them with information.
“You don’t expect everything to be really fluid at this stage at all, you just hope that everyone can come through it and I think pretty much they have.
“But that’s 45 minutes of work against a Championship team that are a week ahead of us and a game ahead of us. (There were) little bits in there that we were quite pleased with, lots of scruffy stuff, but that’s to be expected at this stage.
“It was a good afternoon in the end, not a beautiful spectacle by any means but it ticks a box. That’s one game down and we will try and do it all again next week (at home to Watford).”
Bonner named two separate elevens for the game, which meant a few players out of positions, but playing in a game was more important than playing in the right position.
He said: “We have a couple carrying one or two knocks and a couple who were going into today that were quite tired after the week and unsure whether to push them through but we managed to do that.
“We are quite pleased that we have got everyone through. They have been brilliant these last two weeks and they have done six-day weeks both weeks and they are spent if I am honest.”
Championship side Millwall were a tough first challenge for the Gills.
“It was a really good challenge,” Bonner said.
“They were a week ahead of us, had played a 45 already, and that almost makes it another challenge and then with a decent crowd inside the stadium straight away that adds another little bit of pressure.
“They wanted to do well and they went into a game a bit tired, a bit jaded, they are going into it with one or two out of positions, all sorts.
“Those games are never easy and you wouldn’t expect it to look perfect.
“I would say in both halves the opening 15-20 minutes was a good level, a good tempo and then as people tire quite quickly it is harder to do the things we want them to do, which is natural but I think over time we will see that improve.”
