By Sedara Oluwadara
Gillingham’s players endured a day of “carnage” before their shock penalty shootout victory over Premier League Brentford took them into the Carabao Cup fourth round for the first time in 26 years.
Mikkel Damsgaard was the first to miss in a high-quality shootout after Mikael Mandron scored with the League Two Gills only shot of the match to cancel out Ivan Toney’s third-minute opener.
The tie was delayed by 20 minutes due to Gillingham’s late arrival at the stadium and manager Neil Harris later revealed the players “had to climb over barriers and help each other get over fences” as they walked the final part of their journey.
“We got to about a quarter of a mile from Chiswick Roundabout and we got stuck,” said Harris, whose side sit 78 places below Brentford in the football league.
“Fortunately we had a tactics board on the bus but we couldn’t move and they couldn’t get a police escort to us. We got in touch with the officials and decided to walk.”
He added: “We had to leave two hours early this morning because of protestors. It’s been a bit of a carnage day.”It’s a memorable night because of the performance, but also because of the factors surrounding it.”
