After being sent from the dugout at Walsall last weekend, Keith Millen will be on the Gillingham bench when early season pacesetters Notts County visit Priestfield this weekend for what will be the visitors’ 5000th game in the Football League.
Not that that will bother the Gills interim coach one jot as Millen knows just how important three more Priestfield points will be for his temporary charges as the Club look possibly set to name Neil Harris’ permanent replacement next week.
Reflecting on last weekend’s defeat, Millen admitted, “It was disappointing. The first half hour was OK, and I felt that we were comfortable and was getting frustrated that we were not really going for them and if we would have scored the first goal in that period we would have probably gone on and won the game.”
“But that is the story of most teams in League Two and just how important it is to get the first goal, especially away from home when it gives you a sense of belief.”
“We got in some really good positions but were a bit wasteful – two or three good opportunities, but we have a lot of good areas when we could have got more out of the game.”
“Then there was the incident with me and the frustration for me as a coach and a manager is that you want to be on the touchline with the team, and that hurt me more – the fact that I wasn’t able to be there for them and the shock of what happened when I was told that I wasn’t allowed to watch anywhere inside the ground that had a view of the pitch which is a new EFL rule that I wasn’t aware of!”
“We went from doing well for half an hour to being two-nil down at the break with two really poor goals from our position – we had men behind the ball and the manner we conceded them was difficult!”
“The third one was another poor goal to concede through the middle of the pitch. When we scored, we had a really good spell at 3-1 and we could have quite easily got back in the game.”
“It was a terrible scoreline – to concede four goals is not like this team this year as we have been based on being hard to beat and not allowing the opposition too many chances.”
“That is something we have looked at this week again as we try and get the balance right between what we do with and without the ball!”
“Not being able to watch any of the game because of Walsall’s technology problems was difficult and summed up a really tough day.”
“We are going to appeal as we’ve video evidence that I did not touch the player and so I will be in the dugout on Saturday.”
“I want to clear my name as it does not sit well having a misconduct charge over me, but I have got to make sure that we all focus on Saturday for what is a big event.”
“These are the games that you should really be looking forward to – it is a big event for them with their five thousandth League game, so they are putting on free travel for their fans.”
“It will be a cracking atmosphere as they are a good side who score and concede goals and so we have done a lot of work this week.”
“I was really conscious that we had to move on quickly from Walsall on Monday and all week we’ve been working towards Saturday as it is a big game for a number of reasons – we’re both towards the top of the League and we know what to expect from them and we’ve got to make sure that we compete and hopefully cause them some problems.”
Millen confirmed that Tom Dieng and Ashley Nadesan will both still be missing for the Gills, but the news about Dieng is better as the midfielder has begun training back on the grass after his knee injury, and Nadesan will be weeks rather than days before his return, but he does not need an operation.
Skipper Shaun Williams and Robbie McKenzie will be assessed before kicking off after coming off last weekend.
Shad Ogie is suspended whilst Scott Malone returns from his ban and Cheye Alexander is back from international duty.