Clarke’s delight at last-gasp Harrison
DARRELL Clarke reflected on another Rovers victory from a goal down and insisted: “It is no fluke that we keep doing it.”
The manager saw late strikes from Chris Lines and substitute Ellis Harrison snatch the points from a dogged Gillingham side, who had taken a 62ndminute lead through Josh Wright.
Rovers have made a habit of conceding the first goal this season, but are becoming adept at overcoming such setbacks.
Clarke said: “There are reasons why we are good at getting back into games. The fitness and the character of my players is top class.
“They are also able to adapt when we switch formations during games. That happened again here and they responded positively to the changes as is usually the case.
“As a team, they don’t know when they are beaten. Ideally, I would like to talk about keeping clean sheets, but in the end it is all about winning football matches.
“I felt we were in control of the game in the opening half and our first mistake has been punished.
“We switched off and it was a poor goal to concede. But yet again the lads have shown tremendous spirit to get what they deserved in the end.”
Wright’s opening goal saw him pop up unmarked at the far post to shoot low past Kelle Roos after a long throw from the right had been flicked on.
Rovers equalised on 82 minutes when their best player, Lines, exchanged passes with Matt Taylor and burst clear through the middle before coolly slotting his shot past Jonathan Bond.
The winner came as injury time approached, Harrison meeting a cross from the left by fellow substitute Cristian Montano at the far post with a fierce right-footed volley from the corner of the six-yard box.
Gillingham boss Justin Edinburgh said: “I am hurting for my players. With the amount of effort they put in here, they didn’t deserve that.
“It can become psychological when you keep giving away leads and we have to deal with the mental side of the game at the moment.
“But I couldn’t ask for more in terms of workrate. We paid for being caught out of position for the goals and it is just split second lapses in concentration that are costing us.
“I have to lift the players quickly ahead of another game on Tuesday, but if we keep playing like that the results will come.”