Gillingham manager John Coleman praises captain Armani Little and goalscorer Max Clark after a late equaliser at Accrington Stanley on Saturday

It was third time lucky for Gillingham at Accrington as they finally made a free-kick count to grab a late equaliser.

The Gills had wasted two good opportunities from the edge of the box at Accrington before captain Armani Little played an unexpected ball into the feet of Max Clark and he fired across goal into the net.

Manager John Coleman, speaking after the 1-1 draw, was delighted with the creation and execution of the goal.

“It's a clever bit of play,” he said.

“Everyone's expecting him (Little) to shoot. Even I was. Even my mum was (having prayed to her pre-match)!

“I've got to take my hat off to those two because it was being calm under pressure, which is the sign of good footballers.”

Two earlier free-kicks from similar positions had been hit against the Accrington wall. Little had taken one of those earlier set-pieces but his clever pass in stoppage-time deceived everyone.

It was a first goal of the season for left-sided defender Clark - and something the manager had been calling for.

Coleman said: “I did speak to him during the week, saying, ‘Come on, you should be chipping him with more goals.’ I asked him the last time he scored. I think [he said it was] last season.

“I said with the positions that they're playing in, they (the wing-backs) should be chipping him with more goals.

“[Remeao Hutton] got more advanced in the second half in the day and could have done a little bit better with one or two of the incidents that he got into.

“It was a fantastic finish by Max.”

Beautifully worked