Gareth Ainsworth praises Gillingham’s ’emphatic’ finishing in Harrogate win

Gillingham manager Gareth Ainsworth praised his team’s “emphatic” finishing in their 3-0 victory at Harrogate.

The Gills scored three times for a second successive game to secure their first back-to-back wins since September, with Conor Masterson, Armani Little with a penalty and Sam Vokes on target.

Ainsworth was delighted with the trio’s ruthlessness in front of goal and hopes his side have now put a wasteful period in which they dropped off the League Two play-off pace behind them.

He said: “Harrogate made a number of changes and sprung a bit of a surprise on us by playing a different formation, but the boys dealt with that and it was a fully-deserved victory.

“Everyone really worked hard for it and we were emphatic in the way we went forward and finished.

“In recent weeks, we’ve been guilty of spurning chances, but we were brilliant in front of goal and I’m really happy with where we are now as a squad and having everyone back available. We’ve been missing characters, but this was a performance full of character.

“I’d also like to thank our fans for coming all this way on a cold day when I heard the Dartford Tunnel was even messier than usual. The last 10 weeks haven’t been great, it’s been steady, but they still turn up to cheer us off the bus and throughout games and that makes such a huge difference.”

Ainsworth offered words of support for under-pressure home manager Simon Weaver, whose team are winless in 17 league games, have lost eight straight matches at Wetherby Road and not scored a home goal for 11 hours and 55 minutes.

Chants of “we want Weaver out” were directed at the long-serving Sulphurites boss, but his opposite number declared: “I like Harrogate Town and don’t want them to go down. Simon Weaver is a good guy and they are a good club. I was pleased to get a draw here last season, so I’m delighted with three points.”

Weaver insists his players cannot afford to get “sucked into negativity”.

He said: “We started nervy and edgy, which is a confidence issue, and they also made their physicality count. We need to take that psychological handbrake off and that’s the challenge we have in front of us on this run.

“We needed to be on the front foot and create more at 0-0. There was no connectivity between the front men and midfield and then in the first 10 minutes of the second half, the game got away from us in a couple of situations where we need to be better.

“I think the penalty was harsh and it gave them a position of strength and confidence. We passed the ball a bit better in the second half, but it still didn’t yield goals or many chances.

“We have 57 points to play for and, while we have to be better than today, we can’t get sucked into negativity.”