It was third time lucky for Gillingham at Accrington as they finally made a free-kick count to grab a late equaliser.
The Gills had wasted two good opportunities from the edge of the box at Accrington before captain Armani Little played an unexpected ball into the feet of Max Clark and he fired across goal into the net.
Manager John Coleman, speaking after the 1-1 draw, was delighted with the creation and execution of the goal.
“It’s a clever bit of play,” he said.
“Everyone’s expecting him (Little) to shoot. Even I was. Even my mum was (having prayed to her pre-match)!
“I’ve got to take my hat off to those two because it was being calm under pressure, which is the sign of good footballers.”
Two earlier free-kicks from similar positions had been hit against the Accrington wall. Little had taken one of those earlier set-pieces but his clever pass in stoppage-time deceived everyone.
It was a first goal of the season for left-sided defender Clark – and something the manager had been calling for.
Coleman said: “I did speak to him during the week, saying, ‘Come on, you should be chipping him with more goals.’ I asked him the last time he scored. I think [he said it was] last season.
“I said with the positions that they’re playing in, they (the wing-backs) should be chipping him with more goals.
“[Remeao Hutton] got more advanced in the second half in the day and could have done a little bit better with one or two of the incidents that he got into.
“It was a fantastic finish by Max.”
The Gills had gone to sleep for Accrington’s goal in the first half, with a low free-kick sent in and tapped home.
Coleman said: “You’ve got to deal with the ball in the box. It was a low ball and they’d scored a similar goal in midweek, so we knew.
“Ben Woods has got good delivery, so we can’t take that away from them. From their point of view, it’s a well worked goal. It’s disappointing for us to concede from a set-play because we’re normally very, very good at defending them.”
Gillingham’s equaliser came from a player Coleman’s praised frequently in the last few weeks, picking him out as a player others should look up to after winning his place in the team and cementing it.
“He’s a great lad,” said the Gills boss. “We knew he was from day one, from when we walked into the club. We knew he was a great lad because we knew his appetite in training was good.
“We went a different way and then we changed it and, you know, thankfully we changed it soon enough to get that type of character on the pitch.
“In League 2, a lot of it’s about character.
“You’d love to have the flashes are brilliant. You’d love to have the skill that turns a game. But, if you’ve got eleven characters, you’ve got a chance in this league.”
