Taylor in plea to supporters

Gillingham boss Peter Taylor called for a sense of realism after his side's 0-0 draw with struggling Walsall.

Walsall had only won once in the league prior to the trip to Priestfield and their current form was no more apparent than in the performance of striker Ashley Grimes. The 27-year-old, without a goal since April 2013, volleyed straight at on-loan Gills goalkeeper Stephen Bywater six minutes in after good play from James Baxendale. He then flicked a shot straight at Bywater when any contact on Anthony Forde's teasing cross looked like it would result in a goal for the Saddlers. Walsall have not won away since a 2-0 defeat of Bradford on March 25, but Taylor warned fans not to get ahead of themselves so early in the season. "I think it was a fair result. We should have opened them up a couple of times, they had a couple of chances early on, but I think a point was right," he said. "It was a frustrating day because I think we are a lot better than that. But you can't change that now - we've got to learn from it, which I think we will. "I want people to appreciate that we're a young team. I could see certain supporters were disappointed; we're frustrated but we're still improving. "Just because we beat Peterborough in the week, that doesn't mean we're just going to turn people over now. We will have days like we had out there. "If you can get four points from two games like we've done this week, we will have a decent season. "If we keep taking points and working as a group, we will be ok." Walsall boss Dean Smith admitted he got exactly what he wanted from his players after some less-than-favourable viewing in their 4-0 midweek loss at Rochdale. "I thought it was a decent performance. They had their tails up after beating Peterborough and we were smarting after our defeat," he said. "I thought we looked solid, I can't remember O'D (Richard O'Donnell) having to make a save, even though we had to deal with a lot of set-pieces in the first half. "I thought we had the better chances. In the first half Ashley had a couple and then James had a super chance at the end. "He made a great run, he just failed to hit the target with his header. "I changed the team, and nobody could've have had any problems with how I changed it. I thought they worked hard. "I was scathing about the back five on Tuesday and I spoke to the players on Thursday and told them it was a one-off. "We've never had that sort of performance from these players before. "Now they've showed what they can do, and that gives us a platform to build on." Breaking news, transfer gossip, line ups and goal alerts from your football club - delivered direct to your mobile. Sign up for Sky Sports Alerts