Gillingham coach Steve Lovell felt the team were hard done by at Crewe.

There was controversy surrounding two of the goals scored by the hosts on Saturday, in the League 1 clash.

The Gills conceded the first from the penalty spot but Lovell felt the ball had gone out in the build-up.

Lovell, keen not to be over-critical of the referee in public, said: “I don’t want to get into this kind of thing but when we are all standing there and even their players are coming over to us and saying the ball was out it is disappointing. They go and get the penalty from it, which I thought was a bit soft.

“I didn’t think the referee had the best afternoon in the world and that’s all I want to say about it.”

The Gills conceded soon after and trailed 2-0 at the break.

A goal from Bradley Dack got the Gills back into the game but another controversial goal put the nail in the coffin for the visitors.

Lovell said: “We piled on the pressure and once we got the goal perhaps we needed a bit of luck and more desire from some of our forwards, to get their heads in there. If we got that second goal I think we would have then gone on and got a third.”

It was Crewe who eventually got the third.

“He caught it really,” said Lovell. “We could see it. The reaction suggested it was handball and they get the third goal from it. That summed up the afternoon. We didn’t get the breaks.”

Lovell had few complaints about Gillingham’s work-rate.

He said: “The first goal killed us, after all the hard work and the work rate that the players had put in.

“We pushed forward and created things but things went against us. We are having a lot of bad luck at the moment.

“I said to the players, you have to keep your heads up and keep going. They worked and worked and everyone is giving everything for the club. You can’t ask any more than that.”