Gillingham had some hard truths to face after a heavy home defeat but defender Andy Smith was delighted with the way they responded.
The Gills were forced to reflect on their mistakes after suffering a 4-1 home defeat against Grimsby Town, with manager Gareth Ainsworth making sure there was no hiding from their shortcomings.
They put that disappointment behind them at Shrewsbury on Saturday, producing a determined performance to claim a 2-1 victory, with Smith popping up with the winner 10 minutes from time.
The central defender was in the right place at the right time to convert from close range after Bradley Dack’s effort had come back off the crossbar.
It was the 25-year-old’s second goal for the Gills and only his fourth league goal in his career.
Smith said: “We took some time to reflect [after the Grimsby loss], review the game, analyse it and look where we could improve.
“It wasn’t easy [last] Monday morning sitting through the game and dissecting it. That’s part of football. That’s part of learning. We’ve learned as a group. Hopefully, going forward, we can be better for it.
“The Gaffer had some harsh truths to say, if you like. It was a tough start to the week, but again, I’ve said it a few times now, the Gaffer doesn’t allow for moping around after a bad result.
“We were full of energy [going into the game] and full of fight.”
The manager had tried to take the pressure off.
Smith said: “That’s on us as players. We’re professional footballers. We’ve got to be able to try and manage the pressure, manage nerves. That’s part of being a footballer.
“At the end of the day, that’s on us on the pitch to deal with that, which I think we did really well.
“I’m probably my harshest critic myself. I don’t need anyone to tell me when I’ve not been at the races. Coming off this week, with three points and the winner, it’s a much, much better feeling.”
Asked how it felt to score the winning goal, he said: “I actually think that might be the first. They all feel the same to me. I don’t get many. Whenever I get on the scoresheet, it’s nice.
“I was really proud of the lads in terms of the defensive performance, the resilience that we’ve shown.
“It would have been easy once [it went 1-1] to do what we have a few times so far this season, unfortunately, maybe shipped another two.
“We’re really happy that we’ve come away with three points.”
Shrewsbury had some lively forwards to keep Smith and the defence busy, including George Lloyd.
He scored twice in a 3-3 draw at Shrewsbury last season and netted from the spot on Saturday to cancel out Harry Waldock’s opener.
Smith and Lloyd had played together at Grimsby.
Smith said: “We know how good Lloydy is, I’ve played with him previously. We knew that they were a physical threat [upfront], lots of energy, lots of speed. We had things we worked on in the week to try and stop that.
“I think every player in the league on their day can be a threat to anyone.
“Whoever it is we’re up against, we try and do our work in the week to nullify threats.
“More importantly, I think we focus on ourselves a lot as well, how we can hurt teams. I think you can get caught up in thinking about opposition and opposition players, but we really try to work on ourselves and how we can implement our game on others.
“It was a real team performance and I’m delighted with three points more than anything.”
