Andy Hessenthaler gets animated at Wimbledon Picture: Barry Goodwin

by Luke Cawdell

Gillingham manager Andy Hessenthaler has apologised to the fans who made the trip to AFC Wimbledon on Saturday.

Hessenthaler’s side were 3-0 down after just 22 minutes as some woeful defending left their hopes in tatters.

The Gills had started the weekend three points off the top of League 2 but ended it laying ninth and five points off the summit.

For the 776 travelling fans, it made for grim viewing.

Hessenthaler said: "It was a disappointing afternoon because we had two fantastic wins before it and we have let the fans down.

"About 750 fans were there from Gillingham and they saw that. It’s not acceptable. We apologise to them."

What irritated the Gills boss was that he picked the same side that had beaten Burton 3-1 the weekend before.

"We didn’t make the right decisions, we switched off and didn’t react to things," added Hessenthaler.

"This is why you scratch your head as a coach and a manager, we have done nothing different.

"If we are going to achieve things we need to cut those (mistakes) out quickly.

"We have had two fantastic results but on Saturday we gifted them the game.

"Credit to them because they had more about them in the first half."

The Gills still have a long season ahead and Hessenthaler knows there is time to put things right.

"Nothing was won or lost on Saturday," he said, looking at the bigger picture.

"We are 11 games into the season and it’s a long season. We need to make sure we stop doing those things and being Jekyll and Hyde."

Hessenthaler substituted defender Matt Lawrence early on but admitted he would have made even more changes if he could.

"I wasn’t happy with him," said Hessenthaler. "I have to be honest. I made a decision and we got better.

"Matt has had some good games for us but he wasn’t with it. He made some poor decisions and I made that call.

"There could have been a lot more players coming off and if we could have changed a few more, we would have.

"We have to go to places like Wimbledon and do better. We won the second half but lost it in the first half."

Did you go to the Wimbledon game? What did you think? Comment below.