GILLINGHAM player manager Andy Hessenthaler’s refusal to criticise his players’ performances against Walsall has left fans perplexed.

Hessenthaler hit back at the boo-boys who jeered his team off at the end of Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat by Walsall.

He said: “I don't want to get into an argument with the fans but I was disappointed with the reaction and so were several of my senior players. It’s a collective thing because we need supporters to get behind us. I don’t think the players deserved that reaction.

“I didn’t slaughter the players afterwards but some of the players are disappointed by the reaction of the fans.”

Several senior players including Hessenthaler, Mark Saunders and Paul Smith were unavailable so the Gills boss gave 21-year-old Danny Spiller his first league start, brought on 16-year-old schoolboy Akwasi Edusei and had first year trainee Jonathan Wallis on the bench.

But in front of the season’s smallest crowd of 6,972 there was little to cheer. At the end those who did not boo remained silent, which was just as much as a snub for a Gills team that has got used to being clapped off.

Hessenthaler added: “I thought Spiller was absolutely outstanding and I wanted the fans to get behind us - but I just didn’t feel they did.”