Gillingham top scorer Vadaine Oliver is aiming for Play Off glory – again!
Last season the striker was a member of the Northampton Town squad who, courtesy of a late run last season, were promoted after a Wembley Final win over Exeter City, and he’s using that experience to try and inspire his young team mates to ensure that lightening – in his case at least – can strike twice…
In a topsy turvy season, it’s a dream that in the last week has gone up – and down! After the defeat at Fleetwood, Steve Evans’ side had to get a result at Swindon at the weekend to get back on track – and they delivered!
Oliver confessed, “Thankfully after that defeat at Fleetwood, we didn’t lose too much ground on the Play Off places which is something we talked about at a team meeting last week. We haven’t lost out our opportunity – we can still go on and achieve something to being in and around that pack.”
“So, it added some more pressure on the game at the weekend but it’s going to be the same in every game between now and the end of the season – they’re all pressure games for us if we want to achieve something, we’ve got to look at every game as a Cup Final in my eyes anyway. We’ve really got to give it everything.”
The subject provoked a big discussion in their team meeting. “Someone said, for the young players and for players who have been in and around it before, it’s things that they will look back on in their career that stand out. It’s moments like these when you go on a Play Offs run and get promoted – they really are the things that stick with you, and we’ve got a real opportunity to muster up a charge, so hopefully we can do it.”
Last season Oliver was part of the Northampton Town squad who did just that in League Two last year culminating in a Final win over Exeter City, and the Gills top scorer agreed that that experience could prove invaluable in the weeks ahead.
“Absolutely,” he confirmed. “I said in our meeting, it can change things – you can really have a good go, and I said to the younger boys that they might not see it right now, and it’s “just” football. But it’s not like that – these are things that you look back on later in your career and think “that was an unbelievable moment!” The players that have had that are definitely the driving force behind the team now where that’s where we’re aiming for.”
“And we’re not that far from it – we’ve shown that on our day we can beat anyone at this level in this League, so why not have that push; why not have that drive and that enthusiasm to think that we can go on and achieve this…”
“There’s quite a few of us who have been in the game long enough now when you consider how many young players that are making a name for themselves now that we have in the squad.”
“The ones who have been in and around things – Kyle Dempsey, Olly Lee, Stuart O’Keefe to name just a few – there’s a lot of us who have had that experience throughout our careers.”
“As I said, these moments are the ones that you look back on and so it’s just trying to get that point across to the boys that we are within touching distance, so let’s have a go at it and give it everything… at the end of the day it’s football, but the one thing that I don’t want to do is say that we didn’t give it everything that we could. I’d sooner say that we gave it everything, and it just wasn’t meant to be…”
Picture supplied by Gillingham Football Club.