Macauley Bonne, a striker for Gillingham, is performing admirably, and manager Neil Harris believes goals will soon follow.
Macauley Bonne, a striker for Gillingham, is expected to score soon, according to manager Neil Harris.
The Gills had to be patient with the frontman when he first joined in August since he was less fit than the rest of the team. However, he is now beginning to have an impact.
In the 2-1 victory against Morecambe last Saturday, Harris thought Bonne should have scored when his shot from a corner was disallowed after the referee saw a foul in the box.
Harris, who started George Lapslie and Bonne up top instead of early-season favorites Ashley Nadesan and Tom Nichols, stated, “He deserved a goal and I thought he was excellent leading the line.”
“The [goals] won’t be far behind if he keeps playing like that, but we have to make sure we’re creating for him.
“I thought he deserved a goal because he gave a strong, selfless performance,” the referee said.
“His performance in training was a farce. Macauley is simply becoming better and better at staying in shape, and he is learning how to play the way I want him to.
“We signed Macauley Bonne because I want him to be the No. 9 that played at Leyton Orient, not the No. 9, back to goal, coming to the ball constantly, that is not his key attribute,” said Bonne.
In the end, he is a hustle-and-bustle center forward who scores goals naturally, and we have
The Gills went into last weekend with five 1-0 wins behind them. Harris is aware they need more goals – they are top of the table but among the lowest scorers in the league – and Saturday’s performance deserved more.
They were more of a threat in the attacking third having done extra work on their offensive play in training.
Harris said: “It was nice to score two goals in a game, really vital. I’m not burying my head in the sand, we have won a lot of games 1-0 and as much as it is brilliant (to score more), a win is a win.
“It makes no difference how you win 25 games a season. To achieve, you have to win games of football, 1-0, 5-4 – makes no difference whatsoever.
“I am pleased we scored two good goals because we gave away a really poor goal, which has been unlike us, but we are a work in progress.
“We signed loads of players in January and we hit the ground running, we signed loads of players in the summer again and it takes time for me to gel the group, for me to see combinations. It takes time for the group to gel and get used to working with me sometimes.
“It’s been a brilliant start, top of the league after eight, but it is only eight.
“We worked all last week on attacking play and the chances we created. I know we might have stats showing 11 or 12 chances created, but the chances we did create were absolute clear-cut chances as well and how the game is only a one-goal swing is bizarre.
“I was really delighted with the players’ attitude to protect the ball first half, be brave with the ball, positions we got into and everything we asked of them they delivered, in their own ways two really, really good goals. One is a set-piece, organised on the training pitch, and the second one a moment of magic from Connor Mahoney.
“We saw in that first half how much we can control a game and be creative.
“We have seen us control games without being creative and then we have seen us look a little all over the shop, that is to be expected. I watched Southampton (last week), a top side, and they looked like that against Leicester.
“We are developing as a group and it helps having a week on the training pitch. We have another week this week, an opportunity to sharpen up at both ends of the pitch, and I just have to keep dragging the group forward.”
