Gareth Ainsworth highlighted his players’ adaptability as his Gillingham side secured yet another draw, this time on the road against Chesterfield.
The Kent club took an early lead but could not hold on for three points after former Wigan Athletic star Will Grigg found the net and were forced to settle for their sixth draw in a row. It was a result which ended any hopes of Gills reaching the playoffs, with the gap to seventh-placed Grimsby Town now too large to overcome with five games remaining.
Ainsworth Praises Performances
The former Shrewsbury Town manager, who left the League One relegation candidates last month, has overseen four draws out of four and felt this was a brilliant result. (Quotes via Derbyshire Times):
“I am really pleased with the boys. This is a really tough place to come. We had a formation but we changed just before kick-off because I thought Chesterfield had changed but they hadn’t so we changed back to our original plan and the boys adapted so well.
“We really took the first-half to them and I thought we were the better team. I thought we controlled the ball better and we had some great chances. We frustrated them, we really did. We nailed our shape, nailed what we wanted to do against them and it worked really well.”
Priestfield plays host to their next game as they welcome MK Dons in a dead-rubber contest for both sides. Chesterfield sit six points off of the top seven and hosts Fleetwood Town on Saturday.
Writer’s View
It is a bittersweet performance for Gillingham as whilst they earned a hard-fought point against a very good team in League Two but the circumstances means their remote hopes of play-off football are now numerically impossible. It has been a tough season for the Priestfield club, with two manager changes midseason but with an early move to secure someone like Gareth Ainsworth for the future, they will feel they can at least improve on this season and get themselves in the promotion conversation when next season rolls around.
