|
The answer was teamwork. Ever since the game against Nottingham Forest at Priestfield, whoever's playing has been battling right up until the end of the game. Sometimes the football isn't pretty, but today we made Portsmouth work hard for their win.
I was a little surprised when Bodkin was named in our starting line-up, having never previously played a minute of first-team football for The Gills this season, but putting the youngster into such a big game can only inspire confidence in him, and that's exactly what kind of impact Stan has had on the players and fans at Priestfield. Now we are hitting some good form in the league, the fans felt confident that we could give Portsmouth a rough ride.
To give players a mention, Andy Crofts has just got better and better with each game. In fact the midfield three of Crofts, Hessenthaler and Smith were not fazed about facing Patrik Berger in the middle of the park. As usual, the latter chased tirelessly around the pitch, and has over the last few games has led the team in the way that he used to.
So to summarise, over the years, Charlton and Arsenal have found that playing Gillingham in the cup is no easy game. With so many injuries to key players, it would have had to have been a classic Gillingham cup game to overcome a very good Premiership side. We may not have won, but it is performances like this that will hopefully see us compete in the FA Cup as a Championship team in 2006.