Jacko's thoughts after the 1-1 draw away to Gillingham
Town made the long journey down to Kent to finish the season with a game at Gillingham's Priestfield stadium looking to end a run of four defeats in a row.
It was a pretty bright display from Town in the first half but once again they were lacking in the final third. In the second half Town continued to put in a decent performance but it was the home side who grabbed the first goal of the game. Mike Jackson changed things around and went with three forwards and Town were back in the game with a Shaun Miller goal.
In the end a not too bad performance from Town and an end to that run of defeats.
After the game Mike Jackson spoke to the press to give his thoughts on the game:”I think with the situation of us being relegated we've come up with some positives and really good performances today.
“We could have come down here today and not got anything out of the game but we've done ok.
“We've gone behind but fair play to the lads we've got back into the game and given the fans who have travelled down here today something to shout about.
“There were performances from Joe Anyon, Jermaine Grandison, Connor Goldson, Dom Iorfa, Ryan Woods, Luke Summerfield and Tom Bradshaw upfront worked really hard, that group stood out and that's what they can do and are capable of and moving forward hopefully a lot of those players will still be here.
“I've said to the lads that they need to learn something from everything because you don't stay in football if you don't do that as you need to be able to bounce back from adversity.”
There was one change on the team sheet that raised a few eyebrows with Joe Anyon returning to the starting line-up in the place of Chris Weale. Jacko agreed it was a big decision to make but one that a lot of thought had gone into:”We had conceded nearly 15 goals in the last few games so you look at everything and make such big decisions.
“When Joe was in recently he's kept five clean sheets so he deserved his opportunity to come back in, no one is undropable in a relegated team.
“I thought Joe did excellently today and that's the reason I made the decision.”
With Town pushing to try and get back in the game it meant that Jacko was unable to give a début to young winger Josh Ginnelly. It was a disappointment for the Town manager but he thinks Josh and the other youngsters chance will come:”Yes I was disappointed not to have been able to do that but I felt it wasn't the right time to do it.
“I would have liked to have got Josh on right at the end but we've been carrying injuries all week and that meant we had to make earlier changes.
“It will have been good experience for him to travel down with us and it will have been for Niall Flint and Dom Smith but I'm sure their chance and their time will come.”
Town went into the game with the possibility of five straight defeats but in the end the draw put an end to that run. It was only a point for Town but a result which hopefully lifted the 199 travelling fans:”It was a big thing to finish the season without a defeat, the game against Crewe was the big one and we let ourselves down in that game.
“We've recently been playing with a patched up squad and that has affected us especially coming up against two high scoring sides such as Preston and Peterborough.
“We've missed some key players like Dave McAllister for his competitiveness and Tamika Mkandawire, though Jermaine has come in today and shown what he is capable of.
“I've said to the lads that today we did two things, we got a result which means we didn't finish bottom and we put in a performance that meant we got some sort of result.
“It's good to give the fans something as we owe it to them after coming down and backing us and hopefully they've gone away a little bit happier.”
With the season now over the focus shifts to whether Jacko will continue in the Town managers hot seat and which of the Town squad will be offered contracts and which won't. Jacko revealed that it will be 7 to 10 days before any announcement is expected on both counts:”All that will come out in the next 7 to 10 days, nothings going to be decided over the next couple of days.
“Now the season is over and things have settled down discussions on what to do to move forward will take place.
“I'd like the opportunity to carry on and put my own team together, it's been a big learning curve for me and I've learnt a lot in a difficult situation.
“You don't get taught anything like this on a managers or coaching course, this is being right in it.”