By Luke Cawdell

Gillingham boss Andy Hessenthaler believed his side played some of their best away football this season in the draw at Bristol Rovers.

Dennis Oli headed home an equaliser on Friday to earn the Gills what Hessenthaler felt was the least they deserved.

“We deserved to win the game,” he said. “In the first half we were outstanding on probably the worst pitch I have ever seen for a league club.

"We took the pitch out of the game with the way we passed it and didn’t look like we had any problems.

“It was probably the best we had played on our travels for a long time. If he hadn’t been for the pitch we would have definitely gone in 1-0 up.

“We had the play down the right and the ball came across. Whelpdale only has to tap it home but it bobbles over the top of his foot. We missed a penalty and had other opportunities so we are disappointed but I can’t fault the players’ effort, I thought they were outstanding.

“If we hadn’t got something out of the game it would have been a travesty. I was proud of them and we deserved more than what we got."

Oli came on as a late substitute but latched onto keeper Paulo Gazzaniga’s long kick to beat the home goalie to the ball.

Hessenthaler said: “He read the situation and put it over the keeper. It was tremendous for us and we deserved it.”

Bristol Rovers had shouts for a penalty in the second half, when Connor Essam brought Matt Harrold down in the box, and Hessenthaler admitted it was a bit of a let-off.

“Maybe that was a penalty but we deserved that bit of luck from the performance,” he said.

The Gills boss praised the 383 travelling fans who battled against the Bank Holiday traffic to make the game, some of whom arrive 20 minutes into the action.

“They had a real rough journey getting here because of the roads but they were outstanding,” said the Gills boss.

“It was a long journey and they got right behind the boys. It was just disappointing we didn’t get three points for them because they deserved it. Looking at the performance though they would have been pleased.”

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