Gillingham manager Mark Bonner accepted that their fans would be frustrated despite what he described as a “good performance” against Blackpool on Saturday.

The Gills were knocked out of the FA Cup as two clinical finishes by Sonny Carey proved decisive at Priestfield in the first-round tie.

Bonner said: “I don’t know if supporters will be stressed, probably just angry and frustrated some.

“But the vast majority would applaud us off the pitch and say that was a good performance. Actually, you’re mad if you don’t think that.

“Honestly, there’s loads to like in that game against a team from a higher level. But it’s not enough for where we want to get to so you can’t dine out on an alright performance. You want more than that.

“We’re probably all the same in that sense, that there is a massive frustration. Building anything takes time, you can’t afford to be stressed in the key moments but you have to be emotional about it, that gives you the fuel to improve and get better and try to turn the run of results into a more positive one next week.”

While Bonner was pleased with plenty of moments from his team, the Gills boss knew that they lacked a touch of quality when it mattered most.

“I liked lots of our performance, I have to say, particularly in the second half,” he said. “I thought we built some brilliant momentum in the early stages of the second half.

“They made some defensive changes which was credit to how we were playing in the game. Then we had a lot of possession, a lot of dangerous moments or areas that we got to with the ball.

“I don’t know what it looked like statistically, just the quality of those chances, the execution and spark in the last bit is where we’re lacking a little bit. We’ve had a lot of games like this.

“To do it against a team as good as that, as good as the squad for the level they’re playing at, I really hope the lads can take some confidence from what we asked them to do.

“But it’s hard to do that off a defeat and hard to do that when you’re in a run of not winning games and scoring many goals. There were some individual performances I really liked, some parts of our game that I really liked.

“We’re disappointed to go out as there was a spell in the second half where I thought we could really push and at least take it to extra-time.

“We weren’t able to find good enough moments and we turned down some good moments where we could have created a chance or set-play opportunities where we didn’t get deliveries right. Those little snapshot moments where you need real quality, we didn’t find enough of them.”

Striker Jacob Wakeling, despite being isolated at times, earned praise from his manager along with midfielders Armani Little and Euan Williams.

Bonner certainly couldn’t fault the desire of his players against what proved to be a solid Blackpool side.

“I really liked the effort of the players, the intent we played with, the speed we generated at times in the second half,” added the Gills boss.

“We found more forward passes, more through passes, more combination play but there’s still moments in the game where we’re too slow and don’t find a forward one and end up back with the goalkeeper too often and disconnect ourselves by playing big.

“It wasn’t built in a day so we have to hold on to the best bits, keep showing them the bits that we need to improve as we try to find a formula.

“There were some good performances, I loved Wakeling’s energy, he had some good moments in the game and couldn’t quite find a spark in his last bit. We got Jayden (Clarke) higher up the pitch in the second half so he had more of a threat but I thought there was more in that game for him than we saw.

Report: Gillingham 0-2 Blackpool

“Armani Little ran his socks off and had some good moments in the game. Euan Williams was very good, controlled the game for us and got lots of the ball. There were bits in there that are real positives for me but hard to take at five o’clock after the game.”