Wigan Athletic 2 Gillingham 0

GILLINGHAM manager Stan Ternent was looking to the positives despite his side going down to Championship leaders Wigan.

A below-par first-half showing was followed by a much-improved performance after the interval and Ternent believes he has seen enough to be confident he can keep the Gills up.

He said: "They gave me everything they had. I don’t like losing but that certainly makes it a little easier and I have something to work with.

"We have a lot of injuries but maybe I can get another couple of players in on loan with a bit of luck.

"There’s 23 games in the season gone. It’s a tall order but it’s possible. I’ll enjoy the challenge and we need to get 50-plus points so we need to be winning 12 out of 23 games.

"I was pleased with the endeavour and commitment. We need to spend some time on the training ground and perhaps point them in the right direction a little more but we have a chance.

"Every game we play we know we have to get something out of. Every game’s a cup final if you like and that’s how it has to be.

"In the first half, I set the team up to keep us in the game. I was reasonably happy with the scoreline but not with the performance but that was down to me.

"In the second half, we pushed up a little bit from the back and we went man for man a little more and were in the game right until the end when they scored their second goal.”