Latest / Blood, Sweat & Gills / If Carlsberg did awaydays... | Rotherham United 1-4 Gillingham

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If Carlsberg did awaydays... | Rotherham United 1-4 Gillingham · Blood, Sweat & Gills

• Simon Head: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Blood Sweat and Jills, the Jills365 podcast with Simon from Jills365 and Matt from Jills in the Blood TV. And what do you know? Another away win in the bank, another 4-1 away win in the bank, and another very, very happy map on the other end of this call. after a long away trip that started with optimism and ended with smiles and I dare say a little bit of laughter on the way back on the coach because that was I think you described it in the Voice Notes podcast as if if as a Carlsberg day. A Carlsberg away day. If Carlsberg did away days it'd be a bit like that. So how was it? I it was it was very much that. Yeah. It was great fun. It was it was a new ground again for a lot of people, I think. obviously Rotherham relatively speaking have not been at the the New York Stadium too long. And obviously we've we've not played them in the league for quite a while. So I think there was a an excitement around that in itself before the game. And yeah, probably excitement in the fact that pre kickoff it was a game we felt we could get something from. I'm not sure many people would have predicted four one to the Jules, if anybody at all. But yeah. It was it was a good day, it was a very nice stadium, and of course it always helps when your team turns up. Scores four goals, three strikers get on the team sh to get on the score sheet. And yeah, it makes that journey home go a lot quicker. Let's put it that way. Yeah, shout out to Ben Watts on on Radio Kent Commentary. He said it was the New York Stadium where dreams are made of. which I thought was a was a was a nice little a nice little reference there. So yeah, no, it was it was almost the perfect away day, right? You had but you had we had the We had the obligatory no, here we go again moment on seventeen minutes where a defensive slip up, we concede goal with basically the first shot of the game from Rotherham. I don't think they had a f a p a full on shot in anger at goal before then. Paul Mullin got his chance, put it away the way Paul Mullen does, no no fuss whatsoever. what was your view on that? I've watched the replays back. different Different groups of the fan base were kind of pointing the finger a little bit. Some were pointing at Andy Smith. I think there's certainly something to blame there. And Omar Beckles probably made a a a a bad error in terms of he should have just headed it back to the goalkeeper and he tried to tried to clear it. But they settled down after that. But that that one that one defensive moment was probably the one the one area of negativity from the game, I would say. how how did you see that as it unfolded, Matt? Yeah, it was It was massively frustrating at the time because I don't think there'd been a chance in the football match till that point, so I but we'd certainly started okay. Remember saying to Nick pre kickoff, let let's quieten the crowd down. And then we sort of laughed and said, Well the crowd's not actually that loud. But the same principle applies. Don't give the home team a foothold or a foot up in the football match, and that's absolutely what we did after seventeen minutes, would I don't think any of the centre halves come out with that Covering themselves in glory. I know a few people have alluded to the fact that they think there's a foul on Smith as the ball comes into the box. For me, he just needs to be stronger. I've seen people saying they're old he's holding his hand like he's pulling his hand. You're a big six foot centre half. If you can't shrug off someone grabbing you by the arm or the wrist, then you need to look in the mirror a little bit, I think. But credit to Smith. I thought after that he was absolutely immaculate. Beckles, yeah, again. had one of them moments that he probably had too many of when he first signed for his last season. And the communication between him and Dobbs was was pretty comical. I do believe we were in the hometown of the Chuckle brothers. And unfortunately, yeah, it was very much to me to you, as that ball sort of drops into our penalty area, and from there it's just another disaster, isn't it? The clearance goes straight to their midfielder who who puts it into the box and Mullin gets the better of Smith to put him in front. But I thought after that, certainly Beckles and Smith were very, very good. I thought Dobbs had a tough afternoon again, similar to the one he had against York City a couple of Saturdays ago. And it seemed to be no coincidence to me, so that for a period just after the goal. 'Cause I think just before that he tried to have a touch and sort of stood on the ball and it rolled out of play for a throwing. I think they sort of targeted him and they put Mullin that side, on purpose, just to see how he'd react. But like we've said before, he's a kid learning His trade still, we're going to have these moments with individuals, we're going to have these moments collectively when we play these younger players. But he had a moment second half that was absolutely outstanding with that pass for Lamin Silla that wins us a penalty. So Dobbs still had his positive moments in the football match, but yeah, overall I thought he was the one that struggled the most out of the three and probably recovered the least from the disaster class that was the opening goal. Now, the Gillingham team of last season, conceding an opening goal is kind of path of the course, right? We're we're kind of used to seeing this on the road and you concede early and it's no. And but this is a different Gillingham team. This this team's got a little bit more about them. They don't let the setback get to them. They have probably ten to fifteen minutes of as a neutral, you'd probably say not much happened, but the team just steadied the ship. There was one moment where Keen Spence got through and Ollie Wright made a really good save, came off his line to block when Kean Spence, I think, just sort of snuck in behind Smith and just was through on goal. And Smith sorry Ollie Wright made a really good save. But that aside, Gillingham did a really good job of just shutting the game down a little bit and making it a bit of a a non entity of a football match for a while. Just making it a little bit boring, making it a little bit of a of a nothing game, stopping the chances. And then from that, they started to build. And then we got that that goal again against the runner play, I suppose, with with Ronan Hale. I Rotherham was still probably the side doing the bulk of the attacking. But then that finish from Ronan Hale was absolutely top class. And that's that's the striker that we paid the money for, right? It was he's not had a huge amount of success in front of goal this season. He's either been up against inspired goalkeepers or chances have just gone the wrong side of the post or whatever and he's had some injuries along the way as well. That was a proper finish. And that was a that feels to me like we're now getting a real Ronan Hale back with a finish like that. The confidence is there. I said during the game, Ronan Hale in that first sort of ten, fifteen minutes before the slip up at the other end of the pitch. I think I used the words at it. And that's what I thought about Ronan on Saturday. From the get-go, there just seemed to be a bit more of a zip about his performance and a bit more urgency. Not saying, you know, in terms of trying or anything like that, there was lower levels in previous games. But he looked fully fit and he looked like he was enjoying himself. And yeah, I think probably from the seventeenth minute up until half an hour, we had thirteen minutes where we looked like an accident waiting to happen. Everything was rust and everything was Frantic and frenetic, and and everybody was sort of treating the football like it was a bomb. and yeah, I think you're right. I think when the goal comes. If it's not against the run of play, it's it's very close to it. You allude to the chance that that Ollie Wright does really well to fling up a hand and get over the bar. That again comes from us losing the ball in a dangerous area. Harry Waldock tries a little clever round the corner and and doesn't get it right, and they're allowed to break on us. so yeah, to get in at half time at one each after that brilliant hit from Ronan. And also, we have to say again. Another one who went under the radar Saturday, Nick Freeman. It's a brilliant tackle just inside the Rovram half. But he then doesn't just go, I've done my job, he then runs thirty yards to get to the crossing position and puts a good ball into a dangerous area. And then we earn our bit of luck when it drops to Ronan's right foot, but my god he's still got a lot to do from there. And to catch it as well as he does, and for it to hit the side netting in the far corner is testament to how good a finish that was. And I think I said at that point, and I think Nick said to me, Rotherham aren't a good side. We've not had to put them under a lot of pressure to get ourselves level. We've not had to be that good to get ourselves level. and ironically, the start of the second period, though it went back to being frenetic and frantic from both teams for about ten minutes. It was like, no, we don't want the ball, we'll give it to you. No, you have it back. But yeah, never once in the second period did I feel like we were under the kosh and did I ever think we were going to lose the football match in the second half. And that's testament to everybody that was out there. Yeah, and you know, we had that that ten, fifteen minutes after the break where as you say, it was a a bit scrappy, a bit bitty. But then we scored. and that that seemed to settle everything. And then Lamine Silla, great finish. I think it was Brofi. I th I think it was another deep cross from from Nick Freeman, and it it got nodded out to the far side. Brofie recycles the ball, knocks it back into the box. Great one touch and swivel and then smashed it in the bottom corner. That was a proper striker's finish from Lamine Siller and he hasn't he hasn't had too many of those sorts of chances so far in a Jill shirt. So for him to take that chance in the way he did would have been a huge confidence boost for him. That was a that was a proper striker's finish. It really was. And I think his performance was probably sort of in keeping with ours as a collective. Like when when we f the f the f the first whistle went at the start of the game, we were we were trying to press them back and we were playing the game in their half, in their third, but not really creating anything clear cut. And then we had that horrible wobble in the middle from the goal to the equalizer, a and nothing stuck to Lamin. It was it was bouncing off his chest. A couple of times he got bits right, don't get me wrong, but generally it it just wasn't quite going his way. But what I really liked about his performance was he he didn't then go and hide on his centre half, kept showing for the ball to the point where he tried to score from his own half, just before half time. so there's another trivia question, because I know everyone was asking at the weekend when was the last time we won four one on the road twice in the same league season. I want to know when was the last time in the first ten games of a league season we had three people who have tried to score from their own half. Because that's now Brofi Ronan Hale and Lamming have all tried it in various forms since the start of their campaign. he was as close to unplayable as a player can be, second half. He was absolutely outstanding. He was big, he was strong, he showed for the ball, he linked play. His goal's absolutely first class, like you say. There's no room to work when that ball comes in. He has to get that first touch perfect, and he does. And I don't think people can go, well, the keeper gets beat it, he's near post 'cause it's not one of them where Silla's in a position where he can only go that side. He's in a position where he can shoot into that corner where he goes, or he can shoot across the keeper as well. So I think Yeah, it it it's very, very good. and ultimately it it's probably the big moment in the game that that puts us on our way to three points, but he'd not finished having an impact at that point, and he was still to have an impact. But yeah, to have it right in front of us as well was great, and it's such a good goal, and you could just see how happy everybody on the pitch and in the stands were for him. 'Cause like you say, I don't recall him having I mean the memory's not what it was, but I don't recall him having a clear cut chance all season. He's worked bloody hard all season, he's run the channels, he's occupied centre halves, he's bought people into play. But aside from that header against Rochdale, where he gets a bit of luck, I don't recall him having a clear cut chance. And I wouldn't call this a clear cut chance either. He's got a lot to do when that lands at his foot. But yeah, that, like you say, is classic centre forward play and it's a Brilliant finish. Yeah, and like you mentioned the goalkeeper. He was he was he had to be in the middle of the goal because he had to defend the whole of the goal. Like that he was just beaten by a edge his bets. He has to. He has to. I don't think he's expecting Silla to get a shot off because he had his back to goal. As you say, he needed to be a perfectly weighted first touch to give him the space to turn and hit it. and he hit it so so cleanly. That as soon as a keeper knew it was on his way, it was basically past him. So, you know, it was a great finish. And it's really good to hear that like he feels like his confidence is probably soaring after that goal. And because I get the impression he's quite a quiet lad. he's not very demonstrative. He just kind of gets on with his job. and he's obviously, you he's f he's from Gambia, he's not been in the UK that long. he's he was playing for Forest for a year or two. Then he's been farmed out to us on loan to get some first team football. And he's having to make he's having to learn a lot of things on the fly. Never played senior football, never played certainly never played League Two level football, football to that level of physicality and intensity. all of this is being done on the job, so to speak. He's having to do it all while getting used to new surroundings, living in a different part of the country, in a new country, getting getting to know new teammates, a new manager, new coaching staff. All of that while learning how to play professional football at senior level. So to get that to get that goal, and be a goal that he created for himself will will mean the world to him and hopefully will make a massive difference to him moving forward. Hopefully we'll really see him grow in in stature and in the games to come. And as you say, he had a he had a big hand in the goal that followed, which was only s only seven minutes after that. he burst through. Great pass by Logan Dobbs and Silla's just on onto it like a flash. And I was I don't know if it was you I was talking to or whether it my mate James who I sit with at home games. And I'm like, Silla, I th as soon as I saw Scylla, his sort of highlights when I realised we signed him. In my mind, he was always going to be a a threat in behind defenses. Someone who you want to create one on ones for. Just let him running through on goal and let him try and go one on one with goal with the goalkeeper. And this was probably the first time we've really seen. him go through on goal like that, be having been put through by a good pass. And the goalkeeper anticipated it well enough. He just didn't get there quite quick enough. And, you know, I don't know if there are any complaints about the penalty decision. There certainly shouldn't have been any. It was absolute stone wall. The keeper got there as quickly as he could. Unfortunately Silla was half a stride quicker. Goes down, spot kick, and Roden Hale steps up and plants it in the top corner. Great penalty. but Great to see Silla getting that kind of opportunity to run at a defence and make something happen. And also great to see Hale on the score sheet twice in one game because now that now that momentum's starting to build with him. So positives everywhere you look when it comes to that goal. Absolutely. And like we said, or I said at the start of the show, Logan had a tough afternoon defensively, but he's still got the confidence to get his head up. One mainstream sports channel called it a long ball. Which I think's ridiculously disrespectful. I'm not going to mention them, but everyone can work it out because they know who's got the the rights to the EFL highlights, so we'll leave that there. It's a phenomenal pass. Like, to get it that accurate over sort of fifty, sixty yards is takes a lot of skill. And it also takes a lot of belief and a lot of confidence to to even just attempt it before you even get it executed correctly. And yeah, like you say about Lamming, that's probably the first time he's had a chance to really open his legs. And run in behind a centre back. And I think he gives the centre back a start as well, to be fair to him. And then he turned on the afterburners. And like you say, it's a split second the keeper has a decision to make. But it's it's ultimately the wrong one. Because Lamin's desire and ultimately his pace gets him there just in the nick of time. And yeah, I I didn't see any complaints from a Rotheran perspective. It was absolutely nailed on and Ice cold as well from Ronan Hale, which was great to see. Like 'cause we were sort of six or seven rows back, just to left of the goal. And I have to say, while we're talking about it, the New York Stadium is probably one of the best I've been to in recent years in terms of a viewing stadium. There's no restrictive viewing in that place. It is absolutely phenomenal. it's a new build. And you sometimes you get them sort of soulless bowl types. Didn't feel that with Rotherham's ground. But yeah, in terms of a viewing arena, absolutely first class, and it was great to be sort of six, seven rows back when three goals go in and all the boys are celebrating right in front of us. But yeah, you you wouldn't have wanted many other people taking the penalty with the game still in the balance. And like you've said, that really gives Ronan a shot in the arm now, 'cause all of a sudden two in nine becomes four in ten. And now suddenly you're looking at fifteen, sixteen league goals over a season based on that ratio, which will make a huge difference to us. Certainly comparing us to two our top scorers have been over the time that we've been in League Two. You're suddenly gonna have a striker that's getting, dare I say it, two, three times what our top scorers have got over the last few years. So that's really encouraging. yeah, and just great to see him playing with a smile on his face. 'Cause like you say, he's had a lot going on in the last few weeks. Even when he managed to score at home to Trammere, he took a whack and had all the fun taken out of it because he was rolling on the floor and then got withdrawn straight after. So it was nice to see him celebrate two goals in a winning cause as well. And yeah, I think he'll fly now. I really do. And I think you mentioned that goal a against Trammere. I think he's been playing with the legacy of that for a while. I think he hasn't looked fully fit. No, not at all. He hasn't his mobility and his his pace off the mark hasn't been as it as it has been. and we've got two strikers there with him and Silla. Silla is definitely the faster man over fifty, sixty yard sprint. Where Heil has has the edge, he's over that quick sort of two, three yard burst just to get away from his man. I don't think he's got the same top end speed that that Silla's got. But once Silla gets moving, he is very, very quick and a real threat in behind. Whereas I think Hale's one of those where he can get high he's he's nippy enough to get half a yard, but you might not necessarily run away from defences in quite quite the same way. So we've got two different types of two different types of attacker there. And also we've got Hale's obviously a lot further along in his his football career as well. So the other added advantage Hale probably has over Silla at the moment is is Hale has that first half a yard in his brain. Whereas everything still feels probably a little bit reactive and different with Lamin, but in a good way, because I think we've said on previous episodes, sometimes you feel that he doesn't know what he's doing, which equally means centre halves are not sure what he's gonna be doing as well. Yeah, well I the other thing with Lamin is I think that he's obviously got sort of the the raw the raw talent and the raw skills there. But as I mentioned earlier, he's coping with the sheer pace and intensity of lead two football. And I think that's one of the reasons why we've seen the ball bouncing off him quite as quite so much because I think he's he's still getting his brain up to speed with the speed of the game at this level. you know, they say in all sports, you know, the more experienced you get, it slows down in your mind. You know, the the the actu you know, you're able to react a lot a lot more easily. It feels like the action is slower because you're you know, you're able to anticipate and and and and make and make the moves sort of in good time. Whereas if you're not anticipating what's going on and everything feels really quick. Everything's a bit rushed and panicked and sometimes balls can just bounce off you in situations like that. And I think that's how it looked for Lamin in the first few games. So hopefully now he's got that goal under his belt, plus he's earned that penalty. he probably feels like you know, just the confidence within himself, but also he wants to feel the confidence of his teammates as well. And when you're the you know, you when you're the outsider coming in, all these other players have been signed, he's come in. he's now gotta try and ingratiate himself with his teammates and and settle in and I'm sure, you know, they've been great in helping him settle in, but internally he still probably feels like he's gotta earn his earn his trust and all the rest of it. So there's that internal pressure as well. So I think all of this will just help him and I would imagine by the time we get to December January time, we'll really see the best of Lamin Stiller, assuming he's still he's still fit, because we've got a punishing runner games to come. So But yeah, he's been you know, we've got that raw talent there for definite. You know, it's just him getting used to the pace of the game. And once he gets used to the pace of the game, he's going to be a real problem, I think. for for League Two defenses. Scored one, made one on Saturday. And you mentioned you mentioned about Hale on the score sheet, getting some momentum, Silla's on the score sheet, building some confidence. Tom Eaves is off the mark. Tom Eaves, who No one even considered that he might be a part of I have a big grin at the moment for everybody who's listening because people knew my views when when the Tom Eves rumour broke and I I wasn't probably as keen as I am now, let's put it that way. And it was before we even talk about the whys and wherefores, it was just phenomenal to see him getting off the team coach and sort of coming over to the fans because he's such a likable bloke. And I know I've just jumped on what you're saying and and and gone off on a tangent, but yeah. I've had to apologise to Tom on social media 'cause he got wind of the fact that I'd said I wasn't keen on us signing another thirty plus player. when the rumour initially broke. But no, I'm fully on board with it now. And what a celebration as well, it's awesome. I mean, I I thought I think I said this on last week's show. I thought we were one forward short in our January sorry not January, I want to talk about that our summer window. I thought we'd done really well to recruit in all the other areas of the pitch. I still felt like we were a little bit light up front and he is the perfect signing based on the blend of what we have. we have a target man style centre forward, a a traditional number nine. He's struggling with injury at the moment. Will Goodwin. We hope he'll be back fit and firing soon to give us the full the full array of options. But we've got Hale who's the who's the natural finisher. We've got Lamin Silla who's like the raw sort of X factor if you like we can throw on and we've got Tom Eaves now who can do a lot of things. He's not just the target man, he's not just a big lump who can stand up front and occupy centre backs. It was one of the things he got criticized for when he played for his first time. He moved too far wide. He used to get too involved. Everyone was like, You need to be in the middle, Tom. You don't we don't want you out there crossing it. We want you in the middle getting your bumps on the end of it. So But I think with that experience that he's got now, he's playing a little bit more like that. But he's still he's still his movement's still there. He looks very fit for a thirty is it thirty four? Thirty four year old. you know, he he's in great shape. He's obviously he's not had the same sort of pre season that he would have done if he was at a club over the course of the the open but he looks in good Nick. I think his fitness will build, but for him to to get off the mark is brilliant, obviously, but And for him to do it against another of his former clubs. Who gave him a brilliant reception to be fair to the the Miller's fan base 'cause Ava looked Ava went looked at me and went to He did have the best he did have the best time there. I think he was injured the first season. I think he played twenty games, but a lot of them were off the bench and didn't score. but if you actually looked at his his goals per minute ratio in that second season in the champ, he scored six in thirty three games, which you'd look at it and you'd go, it's all right. But I think he's In terms of how often he scored him, it was it was better than one in two. I think it was a goal every a hundred and seventy nine minutes, which is is a really good rate for for a a player that before he came to us, his numbers weren't anything to write home about. But yeah, it I'm just sitting here sort of chuckling to myself because I don't think similar to Bradley Dack coming back a couple of years ago and we had to bide our time a lot longer with Bradley. To see that first goal back in blue. I think it took the best part of an entire season. To get it from Tom after two substitute cameos was was brilliant. And again, to have it right in front of us, was superb. But yeah, great reception from obviously the Jills fans yeah, fair play to the Millers fans who gave him a good reception as well. Yeah, and of all the ways to score a penalty as well, I mean You sh y he had no right to be that that nonchalant, you know, having Would he have been the same if we if it had been nil nil? Would he have taken it if it was Neil Nil as well? Maybe might be the other question. Well they asked they asked Ronan after the game. I think it was Radio Kent asked him after the game and said you know, would would he would would you have given it to him and he's like, No Which you won't I'm sure if it was the other way around, Tom would have said exactly the same thing. No striker should be turning down. Exactly. No but no, I mean I think, you know, if if if you're the manager and you're writing down all of the all of these scenarios that played out and you're looking at all the positives that came came out of this game, a Rodan Hale hat trick would have been great. No doubt about it, it would have been great, would have got some headlines. But he got two and that's still really, really good for him. And he didn't get injured. And he didn't get injured. En yeah, yeah, I mean anybody not getting injured is a bonus for us at the minute, but I don't think anyone did have No. I don't think anyone did. I don't think there was any sign of anyone well Harry Waldock might have broken his nose. I think Armani cramped up late on as well. Yeah, I think that was but that that's nothing untoward. I've got no issue with just a cramp. But yeah, so Harry Waldock might have to I think Ronan laughed and said he might have to give him his protective mask. Given what we've had over the first two months of the season, I'll take one broken nose and a touch of cramp over anything else. But yeah, Dominic Ayolfa on my review show I described as a coward. I thought it was disgusting from an experienced centre half. I thought it was awful. What was it? Just was it just an elbow to the face? Well, we broke and and Harry's run round him and I Iolfa tries to have sort of a grab with his right arm 'cause I caught it on camera and he realises that he can't get there, so he just thrust a his left arm straight across the face of of Harry Waldock who had to go off with tissue stuffed up his nose and he was sat there for a good fifteen minutes still holding some sort of bandage or tissue over his face. I thought I offer was very lucky to only get a caution. I think any a lot of refs would have would have given it a red and someone said on social media over the weekend, dare I say if there'd been V A R, I'm I'm convinced it would have been upgraded. I And he certainly got the the benefit of the Jills fans' opinions when he was substituted and had to go off over the far side and walk right in front of us round to the dugout. So yeah, I think people let him know. But yeah, I thought it was I thought it was poor. Really, really poor from Dominic Eyor. I've got no issue with you know, you trip someone up, you pull their shirt, if they're breaking over halfway, but you don't have to forearm somebody in the nose. No. No. Probably the one the one negative, I suppose, from from from the day. One very quick question I wanted to ask you before before we wrap up was Armani Little. we talked about who's gonna play that kind of midfield sort of holding quarterback style role and we put a poll out as a after the conversation we had. And interestingly there was like the the the majority of support was for giving him a go. if he's got legs around. As long as he had legs around him, yeah. Right. It sounded like Armani Little was playing that role on Saturday. and I don't know whether that was how it looked out there. Ainsworth kind of alluded to it in his pre match interview that he was kind of replaced what he was doing with Eli King. So how did he look? Also, it's his first full game back as well. I thought he was very, very good. And I wasn't his biggest fan last season. But clean slate, new group of players. Same as Gareth. I can't sit here and say, well, we need to give Gareth this season and then go, no, Armani little, I'm gonna write him off. So I thought Armani did most things right at the weekend. I think there was one sort of big block tackle by the touchline in the first five minutes that set the tone. his passing was decent. He seemed to be the one that was coming to the D, getting the ball off the centre halves. we're not gonna replace E. Like in like for like. You just cannot. I mean we tried to manufacture a solution maybe last week, some people might have said. but what we can do is is pick from the selection of players that we've got available to us and and Amani did it well. but we do have to remember that after half an hour we were trailing in the football match and stuff wasn't perfect. So let's give it another couple of games. And see how we get on at Accrington on Saturday. I'm not worried about Brighton's kids on the Tuesday night. That's a a different entity entirely and and that competition serves its own purposes. but yeah, Armani I think did enough to keep the shirt for next Saturday, if fit and available. And we do have to remember that that when Armani first joined, so I think it was him and Robin McKenzie that that were very good as a midfield partnership when of course we started a season very well up until the autumn time. So For me, if they're both fit and available next week, again it comes back to you can't really change too much after winning a football match four one on. And I I said, I think over the weekend or before the game, might have been on Radio Kent on Friday night, I said, I think Tom Edes will quickly become our starting centre forward with a combination of two alongside him or behind him. And then Lamille and Silla had seventy five minutes like Lamin Silla had, so that gives us another brilliant problem. And like you say, we've got Will Goodwin to come back in. But no, back to Romani Little. Solid seven, seven and a half out of ten for me, considering he's barely played. And fingers crossed he can stay fit now and he gives us another option. Ethan Coleman come on a and look really tidy. Again, circumstances made it a little easier for him 'cause we're two one up, three one up, four one up, which makes the game a lot easier. but yeah. Tuesday nights coming around, I'd imagine a few of these will will get some minutes in that game and just top themselves up ready for another long away trip this coming weekend. Yeah. Yeah, and like in terms of Armani, I think first off, I'm I'm I'm really pleased to see him back. he's had some injuries he's had to deal with. And I think that and I I I was very critical of Armani last season as well. For me, the biggest the biggest critic or the the biggest issue I had with him. Was he was trying to do too much. and that comes from a good place, insofar as he wants to make things happen. He's trying to be positive. It was just that it was all do it he was you know, it his game unraveled through trying to do something. There was sense of that on Saturday as well, because I think he was trying to say, I want to go back on. He'd been told by the referee to go to the side of the pitch because he'd sat down with the cramp, and then we readied Ethan Coleman, and then there was a delay. Between Armani Little walking to the side of the pitch and Ethan actually coming on. And remember saying to Nick, this is where he sometimes lets himself down a little. This is only my reading of the situation, so I might not be entirely correct. But for me, if Gareth Ainsworth, as the manager, has said, Nope, you've done your job for 70 minutes, 75 minutes, don't push yourself and create a problem for everyone. Get yourself off. We don't need there to be a two and fro before Ethan's allowed onto the pitch because Armani again, like you say, is wanting to be the hero. if I've got that wrong, then I apologise, of course, but it it just looked a bit needless, and then led to a delay in Ethan coming on, which meant we had to play a minute or so with ten men, which I think if the game was still at three one and they'd nicked one, it would have been then a bigger issue. But of course, it nothing t untoward happened, so there was there was no big deal in the end. But yeah, Armani fit and far in is an asset, I think. but like you say, he just needs to remember now that he's a soldier. He doesn't have to be the leader in sense of wearing the armband. he can lead with performance now. And if we can get that, then again it's another good option to have in the squad. Yeah. Yeah. Best is the enemy of good sometimes. Sometimes you can try so hard to be perfect that you end up not being perfect. Exactly. So fingers crossed he settles down into that role 'cause I think he could do a good job there at in that sort of number six role. But we'll see how that goes. It's been a good week. It's been a good week. Four one away win. We're away again on Saturday, at Accrinton Stanley. We've got the we've got the trophy game on Tuesday night against Brighton and we've got players coming back fit. Things are looking up and I've I've deliberately not spoken about the league table because I said I'd wait until we play ten games. We've played ten games. We're fourth. I think we can now start looking at the league table we as some sort of guide. We're fourth. We're doing all right. Are we the finished article? No, we're not. Do we look like we can contend if we keep players fit? I think we can. Are we gonna romp the league? No, we're not. I do think though, this is a Gillingham team that are looking up rather than looking down. And we're gonna have some slip ups along the way. There's no doubt about it. This is League Two football, these are League Two footballers. But I think Compared to what we had last season, this is a team that seems to have a lot more about it. And I think we're in a position to really have a really good season. And I've the cautious optimism is still there. We're still cautious, but I am feeling increasingly more optimistic as things go on because winning four one away is not something you see too often. We've done it twice already this season. So we'll see how it goes at Accriton. I trust you'll go into that, Matt. Is that right? I will be at the game Tuesday night and I will be at the game Saturday, yes. Excellent. Excellent. I will be working Sunday as sorry, Saturday, as per usual. sat Saturday evening, so I won't be there. But I will be I'll be listening and following as best I can. Don't forget, anybody out there, we have a sister podcast, which is as po it's on on this same feed if you get it on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, Amazon Music, Audible. It's called Jules Three Six Five Voice Notes. And I described it online the other day as we're we're basically building the the story of Gillingham season as told by the fans every match day during the season. And it means that as the season goes on, you can go back and go, what was the what was a 4-1 at Rochdale like? You can go back and hear it. what was a 4-1 at at Rotherham like? You can go back and hear it. So these are really, really good podcasts to check out. There's no preamble, there's no Fluff, it's just the fans giving you what they think in the moment leading into the game, during the game, after the game. so check that out. It's a separate feed on the Jills three six five website. But if you subscribe via your podcast provider, you probably already know about this. But it's on that feed as well. So please do check that out. Check out everything Matt is doing on YouTube, Jills in the Blood TV, match day previews, match day reviews, all sorts of stuff. The League Two hour every week. on a Monday. So if you get this really early, you might still have time to listen to this and listen to the League Two out. If not, go back and check that out as well. And subscribe to Jills365. Jills365.news is the website. You can get all your full Jills coverage from us from there. If you just want to get the free portion of what we do, you are more than welcome to do that. We have loads of free to read coverage on the site and we have two weekly newsletters. Sign up once. Get them both for free. You get the hat trick every Friday leading into match days, and you get the one two, which I need to write after this, which will come out every Monday where we recap the best of the weekend's action. But yeah, that is pretty much all we have on the Jills 365 podcast. This is Blood Sweat and Jills with Simon and Matt. Thank you so much to Matt for joining us as always, and thank you to you for checking us out. It's another good week, and we got two games coming. next few days. Enjoy the matches and until next time, up the chills.