Gillingham boss Justin Edinburgh reacts after defeat to League 1's bottom club Oldham Athletic
Published: 18:00, 08 October 2016
Gillingham boss Justin Edinburgh was disappointed that the big decisions went against his team on Saturday - but admitted they still deserved to lose.
Basement side Oldham took charge in the second half, cancelling out Cody McDonald’s opener and taking all three points with a goal a minute from time.
The Gills had a penalty appeal turned down shortly after Oldham had levelled and Edinburgh felt neither of Oldham’s goals should have stood.
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Edinburgh said: “Oldham were the better side in the second half and probably deserved their win, but we had some real big decisions go against us.
“Both the goals should have been disallowed.
“The first goal is a foul on Chris Herd. He got a clear barge in the back.
“For the second one a player was obstructing (goalkeeper) Stuart Nelson in an offside position. They might have won by a couple more goals but we are talking about key decisions, those two and the penalty decision. They were key.
“The penalty is blatant. The referee has tried to say the ball has taken a deflection, that’;s why it didn’t count as a handball, but anyone there could see it clear. The ball didn’t change direction, it takes a nick but it is quite clearly a handball.”
Read the match report from Priestfield here.
Despite those decisions going against his team, he knew they weren’t good enough.
He said: “I am disappointed, understandably, upset and frustrated. I can’t hide behind the fact that Oldham deserved to win the game.
“Once we took the lead you want to try and grab the game by the scruff of its neck and take the initiative.
“There was a cross where Cody had a good header (at 1-0) and you think that would really lift us and put us on the front foot.
“It is easy to look at things and think how and why they didn’t happen, but natural instincts of any team who have a 1-0 lead is to defend that but to defend it I thought we were a little too far off it. We gave the initiative to Oldham to boss it.”
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Luke Cawdell