Robbie McKenzie revealed he trusted his instincts from the spot after scoring Gillingham’s penalty in their dramatic 3–3 draw at Shrewsbury.
Despite the pressure of the moment, McKenzie said he doesn’t spend much time rehearsing penalties. He’s now converted two from two for the Gills.
His goal on Saturday led the fightback in the second half at Shrewsbury, converting on 66 minutes to make it 3-2 before Elliott Nevitt grabbed a late equaliser.
McKenzie is the fourth Gills player to be on penalty duty this season, with Armani Little scoring his two efforts earlier in the season and both Bradley Dack and Max Clark having a 50% strike rate.
The 27-year-old was asked if he does much spot-kick practice.
“Not really, no,” he admitted. “I used to take them when I was younger, so I feel like I’m good enough to take them.”
The conditions added a little extra tension when the wind nudged the ball off the spot just as he was about to start his run-up.
“The wind blew the ball a little bit so I had to re-spot it, but no, it was fine,” he said.
McKenzie sent the keeper the wrong way and revealed he had made his decision days in advance on which way to go.
“I picked what side I was going two days ago,” he added, speaking after the game. “The analyst sent me footage of the goalkeeper, so yeah — perfect.”
That’s the sixth penalty the Gills have converted this season from eight attempts. Gillingham have been awarded more penalties than any other team in England’s top four divisions.
The latest penalty strike proved crucial as the Gills mounted a strong second-half fightback to claim a valuable point on the road.
“We were disappointed in how we started the game,” he said.
“We should have been better from the start and we showed how good we can be in the second half with the comeback.
“There’s a great togetherness in the changing room, it shows the fight that we have got in us and we have got goals in us and we’re showing that now, we’ve just got to build on the momentum we’ve finished the game with, but we’ve got to start the next game with that as well.”
Manager Gareth Ainsworth admitted his team “got a rollicking at half-time. They got a rollicking at full-time.”
McKenzie felt the strong words helped.
“Sometimes you need that,” he said. “I certainly react better with criticism than sometimes when I’ve been praised all the time, and I think a few other people do.
“I think that’s what we need as a group sometimes and actually it’s a bit of a reality check of where we are and yeah, it’s obviously worked and we’ve got a result.”
McKenzie fell badly in the first-half but reckons he’ll be okay to face Colchester United this Saturday.
“My back’s a bit stiff,” he said. “He took me under the ball and moved my body out of the way and I fell down but I’ll be okay.”
