News & EventsLatest NewsCalendar
In Conversation With Gaffer

In Conversation With Gaffer

Colin Munford24 Feb 2013 - 11:00
Share via
FacebookTwitter
https://www.pitchero.com/clubs

As the season starts to reach its climax we caught up with boss Justin Gardner on his thoughts of his first full season at Mill Field.

You currently have the Millers in fifth position in the Ryman One North, you must be pleased?

If the season was to end now I would be pleased but myself I am greedy and I think the players have been great. I never settle and always want to improve and in my opinion we deserve to be higher.
The management team we have here as well is fantastic. Victor is a great assistant to have and in Gary Nisbet we have the best fitness coach around in my opinion.
The team has put in a lot of hard work over the season and their attitude is second to none. There are another 15 games to go yet and we have to keep the performance levels up.

It has been a reasonably settled squad for a while now so do you feel that has played a part?

There have been a few changes throughout the season but of late it has been settled and it has worked well.
The likes of Jay Leader and Billy Holland have been immense and the spine of the squad has stayed together and the dressing room atmosphere is great.
All the boys are great and the spirit in the squad is strong, they all get along fantastic and that accounts for a lot as well.

There have been a lot of good moments throughout the season, what do you rate as the best?

That’s a difficult one, being 3-1 down at Harlow earlier in the season and coming back to win 4-3 was pretty special and turned out to be a great result.
Then there have been games where we have left it late against Needham Market to pick up the win. Games where you score a late winner are always good.
In that game Jack Giddens made probably the best save I have ever seen as well to just top it off.

Have there been any disappointments?

Being 2-2 at Cheshunt and then it all going wrong with three sending offs wasn’t great and if we had kept 11 men on the pitch we would have won the game. But I think over the whole season the players have been great and deserve to be higher because of their effort and commitment.

Looking at that squad it is reasonably young?

It is young and they are gaining experience all the time. Billy has been a great captain, he has got a lot of experience and in his first season as skipper he has done a fantastic job. The commitment he has shown has been fantastic.
They are a great young group and all of them can have a great career in football if they keep their performances up.

There are still a lot of games to be played, what are your hopes?

We have got to keep producing, there is a 10 point gap now between us in the final play-off place and the next best but we can’t afford to rest. It’s a tough run in but I have great confidence in the team and hopefully we can keep our good form all the way until the end of the year.
On our day we can be unbeatable and if we can get in the play-offs that will be great and I think nobody will want to play us.

Further reading