Gillingham assistant boss Anthony Hayes hailed their massive win over Notts County on Saturday.
The Gills beat Notts 1-0 thanks to Elliot Nevitt’s goal towards the end of the first half.
Report: Notts County 0 Gillingham 1
The Magpies had the best goalscoring record in the division going into the game but couldn’t register against the Gills. One effort that did hit the back of the net late on was deemed offside by the officials.
“It was action-packed, wasn’t it?” said the Gills no.2.
“Ultimately, you can’t come here, win and not play well. There was a lot of control from our point of view, without the ball, because they do what they do and they’re really, really good at it.
“We had to give up certain spaces to try and protect others. I thought the players were fantastic in terms of doing that.
“We also contributed with the ball. I thought we had some really, really good moments of control.
“We were a big threat to their goal and although they dominated the ball, we didn’t come here to have a fight for the football. We came here to try and dominate in terms of chances.
“I think we’ve had more shots on target than them. I think they’ve had three, we’ve had five. One big chance each, a few melees in between.
“It was brilliant for Nev to score his first goal in the league for us and all in all, a brilliant away day, a massive win for us.”
Notts missed some big chances but the Gills – with the division’s best defensive record – put bodies on the line to keep them out and when keeper Glenn Morris was called upon, he was in top form.
Morris pulled off one save at full stretch in the opening half to deny Jodi Jones – arguably the league’s most potent attacking player – and denied him again with a stunning reflex block late on.
The woodwork also kept out an effort from Nick Tsaroulla, following up that first-half effort from Jones.
“We were right behind the one in the first half,” said Hayes.
“It’s an unbelievable stop and that’s probably their biggest chance where the follow-up hits the post but he’s a brilliant last line of defence.
“We really limited their chances. We’ve not given them a great deal of big chances.”
The only goal of the game was scored by Elliot Nevitt, scoring with a composed finish after running onto Remeao Hutton’s ball through the home defence.
Hayes added: “It was a brilliant run from Nev. That’s what he gives you, a threat off the shoulder. Brilliant composure. Brilliant finish.”
The Gills were protecting that 1-0 lead for the second half but there was calmness in the dugout.
Hayes said: “I think going back, I said to (the manager), after maybe 56, 57 minutes, I thought we were growing into the game. You could see a bit of a swagger in our play.
“I thought we had controlled periods with the ball. We limited them to very, very little chances, like Jodi Jones, Dave McGoldrick, Danny Crowley.
“They’ve got some really, really good players for this level and the amount of times that they’ve got on it to really hurt us, I think is minimal. I can’t remember really many, if any, moments. That’s credit to the players in terms of how they executed what was asked of them.”
