Gillingham manager Martin Allen said he believes Town are not “a team of real quality” after the Blues beat his side 2-1 at the Priestfield Stadium last night. First-year pro David October smashed home an injury time winner to grab the victory.

Allen told Kent Online that the scoreline was unfair on his League One team: “The goal at the end did take the shine off it and I don’t think that was a fair reflection of the way the game was.

“I was just disappointed for the lads who were on for those final 20 minutes. They ran themselves into the ground and it was a big night for them to play in such a game for the first team. It was good to see some of our younger players out there.”

He added: “I thought it was a great game and we played really well. We had some good possession in the first half and I think they had one little melee of chances, where Stuart Nelson made some good saves and they showed a bit of quality to score from their freekick.

“I thought overall in the first half we played very well. We changed a little bit in the second half, played a bit of a different way, which created a lot of pressure and we scored a great goal. We were then looking for the winner and I was delighted with all of them.”

Allen, who led the Gills to the League Two title last season, didn’t appear overly impressed with the Blues: “I have to be honest, I don’t view Ipswich as having a team of real quality. I don’t mean that in any disrespect to Mick McCarthy or their players or supporters.

“For me, personally, I believe our players are quality. For me we are better than them without a shadow of a doubt.”

Photo: Action Images

BartsGreatBeard added 11:09 - Jul 17 what a stupid comment his team that are in league 1 are quality players us that are one the favourites for promotion in the championship dont have quality players what ever he is drinking i want some
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JewellintheTown added 11:09 - Jul 17 “I have to be honest, I don't view Ipswich as having a team of real quality. I don't mean that in any disrespect to Mick McCarthy or their players or supporters. “For me, personally, I believe our players are quality. For me we are better than them without a shadow of a doubt.” Classic muppet statements! We shall see at the end of the season Mr Allen. Prepare for a spanking!

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WhoisJimmyJuan added 11:10 - Jul 17 Martin Allen: Get some therapy.
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TR11BLU added 11:10 - Jul 17 Go and suck on yer sour grapes mad dog!
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gypo added 11:10 - Jul 17 sorry Phil he's a willy
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londonben added 11:11 - Jul 17 I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion, but who on earth comes out and says this about an opposition after a pre-season friendly, regardless of the result?? I would agree that we haven't had much quality for the last few seasons but I am really liking the look of the team Mick is building for this season, particularly when you consider that (aside from settling JETs wages) we haven't spent a penny yet! Really puts Keane and PJs multi-million pound signings in perspective...

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murraybrunning added 11:11 - Jul 17 Whilst I can sort of understand Martin Allen's point, I wont be losing any sleep over these comments, This Town team will be fine this season (hopefully better than fine) and it will be built around the MM ethos of hard work, determination and never say die with a bit of quality thrown in to the mix (Wordsworth, Anderson,Mcgodrick)COYB
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Jimmys_Law added 11:11 - Jul 17 What is their manager on?!
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ipswich78 added 11:14 - Jul 17 People, people calm down. Ever heard of PR? He is trying to put a positive spin on the result. Make his team feel better and try to give them a mental boost. Don't get so carried away with his comments.
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SouperJim added 11:15 - Jul 17 If this is an attempt to put a positive spin on the result, it's a very poor one. He's just made himself sound like a complete doorbell.
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tractorboy81 added 11:16 - Jul 17 You can't judge a team in a per season friendly, especially when the team that finishes is completely different to the one that starts.
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Argyle_blue added 11:18 - Jul 17 And of course he'd be in a great position to judge the quality of our team from a pre-season friendly against a pony team from Kent. Muppet.
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Michael11 added 11:21 - Jul 17 What an absolutely deluded old fool. We beat them with most of our youth team 2nd half while this was a 'big night' for their first team. How in any way can they be seen as better than us?! Hope Gillingham get hammered next year now just for a laugh.
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PimsOclock added 11:22 - Jul 17 Most of us have been saying this for years. Let's not get too hung up about these comments, no doubt Mick will be using it to get the team fired up for the next game!
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Paddy39 added 11:25 - Jul 17 Can't wait to see if we draw them in the cup and give them a good spanking after those comments.
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JLITFC added 11:27 - Jul 17 yep Akinfenwa, pure class.
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eMeM added 11:28 - Jul 17 Martin Allen and Billy Davies were my own personal favorites to succeed Paul Jewell. I hope he's wrong in his opinion.
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Marshalls_Mullet added 11:28 - Jul 17 Oh dear, League One manager having trouble with his own failure to make it as a high level manager. Sad to see.
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Jimmys_Law added 11:28 - Jul 17 This guy just doesn't stop spouting nonsense. What does he know? http://m.talksport.co.uk/sports-news/football/premier-league/130716/exclusive-ma
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Hoppersblue10 added 11:31 - Jul 17 In all honesty he may well be correct, Hull were not a team of real quality (IMO) last year....Look at them now...!
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ArnieM added 11:37 - Jul 17 I think a measure of quality can be identified in the fact that his team ran their socks off for a result, whilst we used it as atraing match...."Titus hasn't even broken out into a sweat" ( stuart watson tweet last night). Town are a top 6 side this season if we continue in the same way as we did once MM had taken over the squad.
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Wickets added 11:38 - Jul 17 OOOPPS
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NoCanariesAllowed added 11:41 - Jul 17 Say what you like about our team, Mr Allen - at least we have a manager of real quality. Perhaps you can keep your comments to yourself until you've got something better on your Championship CV than six weeks signing awful players at Leicester.
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joe9087 added 11:45 - Jul 17 Anyone who rates a team's quality after watching a pre-season friendly designed mostly to regain match fitness and get a squad gelling is an idiot. It's extremely rare you ever hear a manager say another team lacked quality, usually they give a positive vibe off to their own team by saying the other team were exceptional or something similar. He looks a prat, but either way, none of us nor Town will lose sleep on it. COYB.

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ITFC_Cairo added 11:49 - Jul 17 Our team who are supposedly not as good as them played a very much reserve set of players for large portions of the match, are in a higher division than them and also won the game. What is he basing his opinions on? Praying for Gillingham in the cup this year now so we can have a cup tie against quality opposition.
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