by Luke Cawdell

Gillingham were forced to settle for a second successive draw on home soil but manager Andy Hessenthaler was unable to criticise his players.

The Gills had plenty of chances to win the game but were always facing an uphill task after conceding a penalty – a decision which Hessenthaler (pictured) conceded was correct.

He said: “We had a right go and you could see that by the fans’ reaction. They were behind us and trying to suck that ball in for us as well but it just wouldn’t happen for us in the end.”

Hessenthaler confronted referee Danny McDermid at half-time after the official penalised Matt Lawrence for a handball, which led to the first half penalty, but the Gills boss admitted he was wrong.

“After analysing the DVD I have apologised to him because I can see why he has given the penalty, but you can see why Matt is frustrated because he has not meant to do it, but you can see why he has given it.

“It changed the course of the game,” said Hessenthaler.

Morecambe played with just one player up-front and once they had the lead they were content to protect it.

“They came for a point and they got a point and they could have gone away with three,” Hessenthaler said.

“They sat in deep, they put Stewart Drummond in front of Akinfenwa and we didn’t exploit that enough in midfield. I think if people are doing a job on Bayo, especially a midfield player, we should make use of the space in there.

"But I can’t ask any more from my players. They were different class and worked their socks off. It’s all about working hard, passion, desire, effort and they gave me all of that.

“We came up against a side who have done a job on us and a goalkeeper (Barry Roche) who was man-of-the-match. He pulled off a string of saves and the one from Cody McDonald, the overhead kick, was phenomenal.

“He saw it late but got his hand out. It’s one of those days where we have come up against a side that have worked very hard. You have to give them credit and like us they worked their socks off.

“It was just unfortunate because perhaps had we scored a little earlier we could have gone on and won the game.”

Meanwhile Hessenthaler joins several thousand runners for Sunday's London Marathon and he is determined to beat assistant manager Ian Hendon's time from last year.

"Let's hope the sun doesn't come out too strongly," he said. "I have to beat Ian, he did 4 hours 40mins. If I don# beat him then there will be trouble on Monday morning when I walk in.

"That's the time I am looking for, but we will see."

Hessenthaler has raised over £2,000 for the Whizz-Kidz charity and is competing for the first time.

"If I get chance to break that four hour barrier at 20 miles then I might be like Forrest Gump for the last six miles."

What do you make of Hessenthaler's reaction? Have your say below.