Gillingham boss Peter Taylor insisted his team were down but not out after Saturday’s late blow.

A stoppage-time winner for Sheffield United left his hard-working team with nothing to show for their efforts.

Taylor said: “They will be down because they wanted something out of the game, as we all do, but they shouldn’t be down on the performance.

“I think they will be quite pleased with themselves that they performed here. It was always going to be a big test.

“They will be in Monday morning looking forward to having a positive week and getting a positive result next Saturday.”

The Gills boss made a number of changes to his team at the weekend, bringing Callum Davies into the defence, which had to work overtime against United.

Amine Linganzi made his first start since the trip to Leyton Orient last season, while Josh Pritchard made his first league start in a Gills shirt.

Taylor’s rotation was, in part, to keep his squad happy. He said: “We’ve got a squad of about 20 players and if you play the same people every week then eventually the eight or nine who are never playing, their spirit will drop. I don’t want that.

“I want everyone involved in the training and in the matches, being a good squad member. I felt as though Pritchard and Linganzi deserved a bit of a chance.

“We have a lot of players who have played a lot this season and they could have probably done with a week off.”

Read the full story in Monday's Messenger