Source: FOOTYMAD
Hess hacked off by another Gillingham failure: 'Weren't good enough with 11 men'
Gills boss Andy Hessenthaler felt his side didn't have enough 'quality and belief' to defeat ten man Southend United who left Roots Hall Tuesday evening with all three points thanks to a late Mark Phillips header. Hessenthaler: 'Was a lack of quality and belief that has ultimately cost us' Gills boss Andy Hessenthaler saw his side beaten by ten man Southend after Mark Phillips headed home with just three minutes left of normal time, leaving them without a win for four games, including three defeats! As you can imagine, he wasn't a happy Hess. Hessenthaler told www.kentonline.co.uk: “That was hard to take. We were well in the game and quite happy at half-time. We worked them perhaps more than they worked us and I would like to see the stats. Second half it was not too bad but the quality in the final third wasn’t good enough. We have had enough chances to win and there was not enough belief in the final third. I am disappointed with that and the one set play at the end, we can’t defend. People have their jobs to do and the fella has a free header. There is no point in us being on the training ground and working on set-plays, defensively and for, if we don’t do our jobs. I thought Garry Richards defended well all night but he has not picked him up and the fella has punished us.” And the Gills legend was honest enough to admit his team fell into the trap of trying to bash there opponents defence into submission when the Shrimeprs were a player short after Bilel Mohsni was sent off six minutes after the hour mark. Hessenthaler said: “We weren’t good enough with 11 men. We ended up humping balls in there, which played into their hands, instead of using the extra man. It’s not easy to play against 10 men and when they went down it gave them a lift and it was like siege mentality. They had nothing to lose then and they were the better team." However, a word for Shrimpers shot stopper Glenn Morris, who hasn't had the best of starts to the season, but certainly earnt his dosh here. Hess concluded: “Their keeper made some fantastic saves in the second half and we had opportunities but there wasn’t enough belief and we need to be killing teams off. We keep saying about lessons to be learned but we keep doing it. I feel a bit for us defensively because we have limited them and had enough opportunities to score goals but there was a lack of quality and belief and that has ultimately cost us the game.” While sending 500-odd Gills fans back to Kent unhappy at a drop down to 13th position. The official Gills report: www.gillinghamfootballclub.com
