By Chris Duncan
I’d be lying if I said I can’t wait for this season to be over, but the performance on Monday, particularly second half, has left me a little sad that we only have two games remaining.
To have taken four points from six over the Easter weekend, extending the unbeaten run since Gareth Ainsworth’s appointment, was more than I expected, to be honest.
I thought we’d get something against Cheltenham Town on Good Friday, but I believed AFC Wimbledon would’ve either played us or kicked us off the park on Monday afternoon.
That second half was a real Gills performance in my opinion, recognised by the atmosphere coming from all sides of the stadium.
It’s the first time in a long time I’ve heard Priestfield rocking like that. Chants of “Gareth Ainsworth’s blue and white army” ringing around the stadium was an indication that the feel-good factor is coming back.
I thought Wimbledon had the better of the first half. Yes, they were physical, but they played some good football too. Clearly something was said at half-time, because second half we matched them in both aspects, with Joe Gbode’s fantastic strike worthy of winning any match.
It wasn’t just the strike though, Remeao Hutton’s run down the right, Bradley Dack’s lay off, the celebration with Aaron Rowe, Joe and Shad, all of it was fantastic.
There seems a togetherness now within the team, a willingness to play and fight that hasn’t been there for large chunks of this season, and that in my opinion all comes from the passion and desire shown by our leader, Gareth Ainsworth.
I cannot tell you how pleasing it is to see a manager who “gets it”, who shows his passion on the touch line, who leads by example with his constant encouragement from the sidelines. I also like that Ainsworth gets in a player’s ear if instructions aren’t being carried out, but he delivers that in the right way.
Like many, I didn’t agree with the sacking of Neil Harris. If I’m honest, I didn’t think Stephen Clemence was given a fair chance either, but with Gareth Ainsworth, I believe Brad has got it right.
Bringing him in with nine games of this season still to go was a brilliant decision too. I think we all knew we weren’t going down prior to being mathematically safe, due to the teams below us needing a miraculous upturn in form and results for that to happen, and that gave the new manager the freedom to experiment and give everyone an opportunity to show what they can do.
Some systems have worked better than others, some players have taken their chances, Jonny Williams being the standout for me, whilst others haven’t for one reason or another, but on the whole everything has improved on the pitch since Ainsworth’s arrival.
On Saturday we welcome Swindon Town to Priestfield for the final home match of the season.
The Robins had been in decent form prior to their defeat against Bromley on Monday, having won their previous four matches, so the match could be a cracker.
It may be 13th against 17th in the table, but I don’t think it’s going to play out as a match with nothing riding on it. They’ll want to inflict the first defeat on Gareth Ainsworth’s Gillingham and we’ll want to finish our home campaign with three home wins on the bounce.
I for one am really looking forward to it. Up the Gills!!
