Sunday 21 March 2010

“They’ve been in the hunt all season and obviously people know by our results we don’t travel too well but the boys who came here today were committed and we had a fantastic following.

It was 3000 supporters (see left) who came with us and I think they will go home proud of our performance. At times we rode our luck but at other times it showed we have some quality.”

Going in at half-time to a standing ovation when leading 2-1, it was a rare experience for the Gills and Stimson commented, “I think it was great for the boys because that’s not happened a lot this season away from home, two goals and winning..

So it was about maintaining that as we knew we would be put under pressure in the second half because the quality Charlton have got.

We didn’t quite see it out but to get a point here I think is a decent point and hopefully we can build on that.”

Asked whether he thought the team raised their game in front of a 20,000 crowd at the Valley he said,”I think it is easier to get yourself motivated, although it’s frustrating for me as a manager because you should be motivated for every game. 

But when there is a big crowd and even pulling up today at the stadium and seeing the blue & white Gillingham supporters everywhere then going out to the warm-up was another buzz.”

Stimson also praised Dennis Oli (top left) for his tremendous contribution when making a rare appearance in the starting line-up due to Simeon Jackson not being fully fit. “Dennis is an honest guy and he works his socks off both in training and in matches.

Today he got his rewards from all the hard work and it was nearly the winner after that fantastic strike by Andy Barcham.”

He continued, “It was important that we responded because the game at the time when Charlton scored neither team was in control.

All of a sudden they’ve hit a shot and unfortunately it went underneath our keeper (Alan Julian, bottom left) but after that even the keeper cleared his head, got his thoughts and pulled off a couple of fantastic saves.”

Asked how risky it was bringing on Simeon Jackson in the second half, Stimson said, “It was a big risk but we spoke to Jacko in the week and we’ve come up with a plan where he wouldn’t warm-up too early”.

“Simeon started to warm-up at half-time so if we needed him he could come on for the last 25 – 30 minutes. He said there was no reaction after the game so he will go back to continue his rehab and hopefully next Saturday if he doesn’t start he’ll do a little bit longer than today.”

Asked about how he felt after today’s performance, Stimson replied, “I won’t get carried away, it’s only a point and would have loved three but you have to look at the point and who it was against. It was at local rivals and as such the boys performed well.

Hopefully it has moved us up the League and kept teams below us, but there’s nine games to go and we’ve got to try our hardest now to bring that performance to these games. If we do I’m sure we can get those points we really want.”

Meanwhile Addicks boss Phil Parkinson (pictured left) thought it was two points dropped by Charlton and speaking to BBC Radio London said, “I thought we played well, we had more chances than we've had for a long time.

To come here and be 2-1 down after the result we had last week was difficult. It took us a bit longer to get the equalizer than I'd hoped, but after last week's result it was a difficult one for the lads to deal with. We dominated the game and should have won.”