Pennock blasts Gillingham after winless run goes on

(Picture: Action Images via Reuters)

Gillingham manager Ady Pennock has blasted his players after they slumped to their tenth consecutive game without victory at Coventry on Saturday.

Pennock has yet to win a game with Gills since taking over from Justin Edinburgh at the start of January, and the Kent club are now 18th in League One and just a point above the relegation zone after losing 2-1 to Russell Slade‘s side.

It is a torrid run of form for Gillingham, who began the season with realistic promotion ambitions but are now scrapping to stay in the third tier with just 14 games of the season left.

Pennock is clearly worried about his side’s prospects, and told Radio Kent: “The players have got to step up. They should have stepped up at the start of the season.

“They haven’t done that all season. They have got to do that because obviously this is a relegation battle.

“The table doesn’t lie so we’ve got to lick our wounds and move on. They are just words – they’ve got to do better on the pitch.”

Of his seven games in charge, Pennock’s Gillingham have drawn five, highlighting that they don’t have much trouble finding the net, but do find it difficult defending their own goal.

They have scored in all but one of the games Pennock has been at the helm, but they are also, quite worringly, without a clean sheet in that time, and the 45-year-old boss said: “We can’t defend to save our lives.