Soccer
Gareth Ainsworth sees a bit of John Barnes in James Brophy’s goal at Rochdale
Gillingham boss Gareth Ainsworth hailed two-goal James Brophy’s brilliance following the 4-1 victory against 10-man Rochdale at the Crown Oil Arena.
Brophy opened the scoring with an impressive curling shot in the 32nd minute, but it was his 68th-minute second, and Gillingham’s fourth, that had Ainsworth purring.
“The way we are passing the ball around is much better than we have done under me and the goals were brilliant, especially James Brophy’s second,” he said.
“Everyone’s going to be talking about that. His first goal wasn’t bad but the second was the goal of the season! If anyone remembers John Barnes scoring against Brazil at the Maracana in 1984, James Brophy did it at Spotland in 2026!
“His team-mates made a couple of good runs to split their defence, in fairness, but it was a quality goal. He has epitomised us this season, he’s a positive character, never stops working.
“This was a great performance away from home, yes we had a 10-man situation halfway through the second half, but we looked like the aggressive team from the off, the team that was going to score. And I believe we can be ever better.
“I’ve been waiting for that performance and result after I’d been reminded that we hadn’t won in four, even if we were three unbeaten!”
In between Brophy’s two goals, Gillingham had netted twice in the space of three minutes early in the second half to take the Sky Bet League Two game away from Rochdale. Omar Beckles scored the second on 53 minutes after Dale failed to clear a corner before Lamin Sillah headed home the third.
Dale’s misery was compounded on the hour mark when Ed Francis was dismissed for a second bookable offence, Charlie Tasker’s 87th minute consolation not enough to stop some home supporters calling for boss Ian Watson’s sacking.
Watson said: “I understand that, it’s no problem at all – it’s their football club and they want to win so much, they love the club and the players and at the moment I am not delivering enough. It’s no issue for me at all, I understand it.
“I have a mindset that I will turn it around. I don’t look too far ahead when I win games and I don’t get too low after defeats. I understand what we need to improve and I know we will improve.
“I’m all in with this project at this football club and it’s up to me to make sure it gets better.
“It was a poor day and an unacceptable performance from start to finish. Even at the start of the game I could tell we weren’t moving the ball with the same intensity, the same bite that we’d had in midweek against Shrewsbury.”
