Gillingham bossed the second half against non-league Dartford and the manager wants his team to be just as dominant from the off.
There’s plenty more to work on for the Gills in pre-season but Tuesday night’s game at Dartford – a 4-0 win – was another positive step following two games against Championship sides, a goalless draw with Millwall and a 2-0 win over Watford.
Report: Dartford 0 Gillingham 4
Manager Mark Bonner was pleased with the second half performance but not so much with the way they started the game.
“I thought the first half was slow,” he said.
“In the first 15 minutes of the second half there was much more intensity in the game, probably a few technical errors in the first half, a little bit of that was that (the pitch) was a bit dry, a bit slow, a very different kind of game to the two that we’ve played (before).
“We knew nothing about them before the game. There were a few things we needed to do a bit better from the first half and we started the second half very well, much more intent, more direction in our game and more options of who to play with.
“We don’t want to start in first (gear). That is the big point, we want to be really dominant as early as possible in games and we want to find a level.
“This was a different game, you get a bit more time, a bit more space, we got stuck in some areas and it gets caught under you a little bit, it was a bit dry and slow at times. It is exactly what you probably expect the game to be.
“It was a decent contest at times and we are still mix and matching teams and putting everyone together and getting fit and getting a better understanding.”
Gillingham’s new signing Marcus Wyllie played his first match for the club and he had an early effort saved and another ruled out for offside.
Two second-half goals from Jayden Clarke in the space of three minutes were just reward for Gills’ dominance after the restart. Youth striker Harry Bridle scored two of his own in the final 15 minutes.
Bonner said: “(It was a game) where we had a bit more of the ball, it wasn’t just counter-attack for us, there were solutions for us to find of how we build and how we create chances but a nice evening’s work for us.
“The boys who did the 60 minutes, physically brilliant, the games a bit more open so you have some big distances to cover. We have ticked a good box there physically.
“For the lads who went on, it was a long old day and night waiting to do 30 minutes at the end, but they’ve went on and did well.
“The team is still mix and match and we have a few missing but for everyone here, good, no problems, another night boxed off in pre-season before we get ready for Saturday (at Southend United).
“Some of the boys will do big minutes again and some of the ones who have done the smaller side of that (game at Dartford) will do the bigger side Saturday.”
