Justin Edinburgh rued Gillingham’s costly start to Tuesday’s game at Fleetwood.

The Gills were unable to recover from conceding twice in the first nine minutes.

Edinburgh said: “It was a real poor start, which gave us a mountain to climb.

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“Once we went (2-0) behind we controlled the game.

“We were as good as we had been for a long time in the first half, taking the goals out of it, I thought we controlled it and moved it across the midfield.

“We got the ball wide and into good areas.

“Brennan Dickenson came in and was excellent and George Williams was causing problems. I just felt half-time came too quickly.”

Gillingham were playing against the wind in the first half but after conceding twice, the manager felt they dealt with it well.

He said: “That wasn’t a problem and we really bossed it and played better against the wind that we did with it. The elements did die and favoured Fleetwood first half and helped them second.”

Edinburgh was disappointed that the Gills couldn’t sustain their dominant play after the break.

Gills’ best chance of the half fell to Elliott List but he was unable to connect with Dickenson’s pacey cross.

He said: “We didn’t produce the same in the second half, the wind seemed to die, which was quite bizarre.

“When those chances come to you, you have to put them away, because it was a real good chance. It was the best chance of the game but the young lad did well to get in there.

“Other than that, we huffed and puffed and pinned Fleetwood in, but they stood up and hung on.”