Oxford keeper Ryan Clarke makes another save Picture: Barry Goodwin

by Luke Cawdell

Martin Allen hailed the goalkeeping display of Oxford United’s Ryan Clarke after a string of saves denied his Gillingham team.

Clarke made several top-class saves to deny the Gills the chance of making it six straight wins away from home In League 2.

Following the goalless draw, Gills boss Allen said: “We played some great football in the first half but we couldn’t manage to break them down and their goalkeeper was absolutely Gordon Banks. Some of those saves were unbelievable.

“Where he pulled some of them from I will never know. He was awesome; he was amazing and I was clapping him myself from the technical area, it was like ‘oh my God’. I had to check the team sheet that it wasn’t Joe Hart.”

The Gills were forced to defend in the latter stages, having failed to make their superior first half possession count, to collect a point and Allen was delighted with his team’s efforts.

He said: “For me it was a point gained; it was another point than we had in the morning, so it’s a point gained.

“The players kept going, they battled hard and they worked.

“Oxford got into the play-offs last season. They are no mugs are they? And Chris Wilder (Oxford manager) is a decent manager. I have been here numerous times and his teams play good football, they work hard and the crowd get going and it’s always a good atmosphere.

“They’ve been on a not-so-good run but they’ve got some good players and they’ve had a lot of injuries. With Chris’s teams they always give everything so you are always going to be in a battle. For the last 20 minutes we defended deep but we defended well.

“We’ve gone away from home and dominated possession. We’ve had chances but not taken them. It’s another point on our total towards Benidorm (a trip promised by chairman Paul Scally if the club gain promotion).”