Midfielder reflects on disappointing cup exit
Keith Keane pulled no punches after Reds went out of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy with a 2-1 defeat to Gillingham on Tuesday.
Leading 1-0 and with the visitors down to ten men, Reds conceded two goals in the last 22 minutes to exit their second cup competition in the space of four days.
The on-loan midfielder said: “First of all, I’d like to apologise to the fans who turned up to support us. It wasn’t good enough from myself and the rest of the squad – we were 1-0 up against ten men and we should never have lost that game.
“The red card maybe galvanised them a bit but we’d looked solid up until then. I thought the new (3-5-2) formation worked but when they went down to ten men we should have managed the game better.
“As players we should all be asking ‘can I do better?’ and the answer is yes. We need to regroup and get ready to put in a performance on Saturday up at Oldham.”
Reds will have defender Dean Leacock available after suspension for the trip to the Sports Direct.com Park but a fifth booking on Tuesday means Izale McLeod faces a one-match ban.
Manager John Gregory said after the game that it’s too early to assess whether Lanre Oyebanjo, Ryan Dickson and Gavin Tomlin – who all came off injured – will recover in time. Josh Simpson and
Matt Harrold also missed the game through injury.
The full interview with Keith Keane is on Reds Player. To watch or subscribe click here.
