Gillingham manager Gareth Ainsworth was proud of his players after they picked up another point on their travels.
It was a fourth draw in a row for the Gills but arguably the most creditable of the lot as they played out a goalless draw at Colchester in League 2 on Saturday.
Ainsworth pointed to an ever-increasing injury list as his depleted squad dug deep to take a point from one of the division’s in-form sides.
“I’m really proud of the boys,” said Ainsworth. “I think it’s my first nil-nil, and this is a tough place to come, by the way.
“Danny Cowley’s got them fighting and playing really well, so you’ve got to give them credit. But then (give) credit to us because we’ve contained a team that not many teams have been able to contain lately.
“We worked on stopping their counter-attack and I was pleased the lads dealt with that.
“We had an overload in midfield at times, and we worked that quite well, especially second half. Just the want of slipping someone in or getting someone in the right areas at the right time.
“I think Aaron Rose had one cleared off the line first half, but they’ve had one off the line.
“So, it was a full-blooded game, two local teams going at it. We were the only two teams in League Two playing today. Fair play to Colchester and fair play to Gillingham.
“Our fans never stopped singing again. They were absolutely brilliant.
“This is a tough place to come, like I say, and I’m pleased to get a draw.”
On the injuries, Ainsworth added: “We’ve got one hell of an injury list at the moment. We really have – Andy Smith, Josh Andrews, Sam Vokes, Jonny Smith, Nelson Khumbeni, Lenni Cirino.
“All these players have dropped out lately. So for that bunch of boys, for that 18 with Louie Dayal in there, Travis Akomeah making his debut, Logan Dobbs hasn’t made his debut but he was on the bench as well.
“There’s some young players in the squad, they’d have learned plenty.
“We made a couple of changes, Aaron Rowe coming in at left-wing back did sensationally well. Armani Little was back, I think you saw what he gives, a real warrior in that middle of the park.
“But there were some brilliant performances and a clean sheet away from home.”
Without the option to bring on Josh Andrews or Sam Vokes, the Gills were arguably dominated physically by a robust Colchester side.
“I think (we) struggled a little bit with the physicality, and that’s Robin McKenzie and Sam Gale and Travis Akomeah,” said Ainsworth. “I think a Sam Vokes or Josh Andrews would have been a real good asset today. But, having said that, Palmer-Houlden, Elliott Nevitt, Gareth McCleary, they led the line really well, so I’m not going to take anything away from them.”
Having weather an early storm, Gills came on strong in the second half.
Ainsworth revealed that was partly due to the conditions which was not easy to realise from the sidelines with the wind having a major impact.
“I’m not going to say we dominated the game,” added the Gills boss.
“They were quite aggressive in the first 20 minutes. I thought, wow, this is going to be a tough afternoon. But the second half changed a lot, and we got hold of the ball better.
Read more: Colchester 0-0 Gillingham match report
“The conditions, you don’t realise how strong the wind is here, it doesn’t feel like it. But once that ball’s in the air, it can travel, and their keeper was struggling to get it over the halfway line in that.
“In the first half, I said to Seb Palmer-Houlden and Garath McCleary, we need to win more flick-ons. But they were saying the ball’s in the wind, coming down vertical.
“It’s very hard to win a flick-on vertically on a ball curve, so it favours the defenders. I think that happened to Colchester in the second half.
“Just a little bit of quality from either team would have won the game.”
