Gills boss Gareth Ainsworth ’emotional’ in first game back after heart surgery

Gareth Ainsworth said he was “emotional” after watching Gillingham win 1-0 at Bristol Rovers in his first match back since having heart surgery.

It was announced in late September that the 52-year-old would go under the knife and, following that operation, Ainsworth rejoined his club on Saturday for a match for the first time.

The former Wycombe manager is still unable to sit in the dugout, on doctor’s orders, but instead oversaw the victory from a gantry at the Memorial Stadium, relaying messages to his coaching staff by phone.

“It was very different seeing the game from up there,” he said.

“It’s nice that for once the stats have gone against us but we’ve won the game. We’ve had the stats with us and the XG with us and we’ve not won those games, and like I said this will even itself out.

“Really proud, really proud. I had an emotional moment up in the gantry there. Being back is a big thing for me.

“Those boys in the dugout and all the staff, that win is for them – they’ve stepped up when I’ve not been there and they’ve had it rough.

“Some decisions have gone against them and some performances they should have won, and that one today I think they deserve that. I’m so glad they experienced that in front of the fans, who were immense.

“I had a really nice moment where the fans picked me out at one stage and all started waving at me.”

Ainsworth praised left-back Max Clark for his “stunning” volley to decide the match and picked out Jake Turner’s stoppage-time save to deny Rovers sub Kamil Conteh’s late header.

But he added that his side must start scoring their penalties, after Clark’s 30th-minute spot-kick was saved by goalkeeper Luke Southwood.

Rovers boss Darrell Clarke has asked his forwards to contribute more in the wake of the narrow defeat.

“I thought the performance at times was decent but we don’t want hard luck stories. We have to do better in the final third,” he said.

“We dominated large parts of the game and we have to be better with our forward-thinking play to create more opportunities.

“We created enough opportunities to score a few goals today but we haven’t taken them.

“I’ve said to the players, we need our forward-thinking players to be 25 per cent better. End of. Because the build-up was good and we controlled the possession and then we get to the final third and I need players to be firing a lot better than they are.

“And that’s every one of our six or seven forward-thinking players. Once we get that together we can start looking like a decent team.”