Gillingham’s manager defended his players after watching them lose again – but even he’s losing patience over conceding from set-pieces.
For the second time in four days, the Gills were beaten by a top-half team 1-0. They followed up a weekend loss at Crewe with a defeat at Chesterfield on Tuesday night.
Report: Chesterfield 1 Gillingham 0
Manager Gareth Ainsworth spoke at the weekend of his frustration at conceding goals from set-pieces, after being caught out from a free-kick.
Days later, and his team were beaten at Chesterfield, the winning goal coming from a corner.
Ainsworth said: “We were just a bit short on some quality stuff and some decisions, and we’ve let a set-piece in again, and that’s criminal.
“At this level, set-pieces are huge, absolutely huge. Even at the Premier League level, set-pieces are huge.
“You see games won and lost on them in the Premier League, so you don’t tell me that Arsenal don’t score all these set pieces and everyone can’t accept them at League Two level. We’ve got to defend them.
“There’s a few moments before the goal that I’m angry with. We just can’t keep conceding set-pieces. Wow, it’s criminal at this level, at any level. League Two, they definitely count.
“We’ve got to do better, but the boys have given me everything, and the fans need to know that, and I know the fans gave everything too. We just came up short.”
The Gills had plenty of opportunities to make something happen on Tuesday as they dominated at the start of both halves but they struggled to turn their own set-pieces into anything of substance.
Ainsworth said: “It’s frustrating because we limited their chances up until we opened up and went for it at the end, going with all sorts of forwards on the pitch and they slid a couple in, but the first 15 minutes were superb.
“Then one moment where we let them in, they get a leg up, and you can’t let that happen away from home at Chesterfield.
“They’re a very good side. We’re a little bit off, we’re still a little bit off where I want to be.
“I know it’s been good, and when I came in we had the unbeaten run and everything, and we seem to have gone and we’ve got the decent points total already this season, but we’re a little bit off where I want to be.
“I think some of the balls, some of the passing just a bit astray, we don’t find the man that we want to find, and it was frustrating but we have this [two-year] plan and we’re going to go for it.
“Fans, again, thank you and thanks for staying [at the end]. The boys fronted that up. They came right up to the fans and said, ‘look, we’ve given everything tonight’.
“We just came up short against a very good Chesterfield side’.
“I thought they ground us down in that first half, and then in the second half we threw a lot at them, but sometimes the quality wasn’t there at the end and we’ve got to be better than that.”
