Gillingham manager Neil Harris made no apology for the surreal ending to Tuesday night’s game after a fantastic win over the league leaders.

The Gills beat champions-elect Leyton Orient 2-0 but the final 10 minutes was a non-event after the teams returned to the field following a 23 minute delay because of floodlight failure.

• Report: Gills 2 Orient 0

Before the game restarted the rest of the games in League 2 had finished, confirming promotion for Orient and guaranteeing safety from relegation for the Gills. The Gills played keep-ball, largely at walking pace until the final whistle, after the referee restarted the action in the 80th minute.

Harris said: “We have beaten the best team in the league 2-0 at home and for 80 minutes, even against 10 men, they make it difficult for you but we beat them. That is one part.

“Second part is finishing in surreal circumstances where we know we have stayed in the division as long as we don’t concede three goals, Orient know they are promoted. We have had a 25 minute break (after the floodlights went off) where the players are in their 43rd game of the season and everyone is fatigued.

“Nobody wants to go back onto the pitch but we have to finish the game, that’s the rules, nobody wants to get up at that tempo again because they are going to pull their hamstrings, or their calf, do their back in.

“We finished in bizarre circumstances, where the game is played at a lesser tempo. I don’t blame them (Orient) for not wanting to press, I don’t blame my players, there was certainly no message from me to say don’t attack and we did at times but the rules lent themselves to us finishing with the ball and Orient not wanting to move.

“They didn’t wan to damage their goal different and injure their players. Really bizarre circumstances but the fact is we've beaten the best team in the league - by a mile - 2-0 and what we have done since January 13 is quite miraculous.”

A power-cut in the Medway area hit Priestfield stadium just after 9.30pm. When it became apparent there would be no quick fix, the referee took the players off. Down the road at Star Meadow the game between Hollands & Blair and Kennington was also plunged into darkness when the lights went out.

The players returned to the field at Priestfield after a long delay and with the stadium still in darkness news came through that Swindon were beating Bradford, which would mean promotion for Orient. That result was confirmed just before play resumed, leading to wild celebrations on the pitch.

When Gillingham got the game restarted they kept possession and Orient let them, the hosts playing it around the back without any pressure. Fans urged them to get forward but Harris admitted it was tough for both sets of players to get going again.

He said: “It would have been nice to finish the game at the tempo that we were playing at, to maybe go and get a third or fourth goal.

“The game finished when the lights went out, there was no appetite from both sets of players to go and finish that at a tempo because both had achieved their goal before the game. I 100% support it. There was nothing agreed between me and Richie (Wellens, the Orient boss). We just didn’t want the players to get injured, that was our message.

“(There was) one guy who had paid for his ticket and wanted to see 90 minutes of action, I tried to say to him, it wasn’t possible to get going again at that tempo, the hunger of the game had gone. He didn’t quite understand but hopefully he will.

“I have seen a lot in football, played 600 games, managed 400 games, played non-league, I have not been involved in an incident like that where two teams are absolutely shattered and don’t want to really play. I have not witnessed it.

“That might help the governing bodies who are continually trying to adjust the rules to keep up with the pace of the game. The game is so fast.

“Look at the running stats, it’s a joke, our running stats on Saturday were as good as any in the country. I have asked the same players to go out again and then the lights go out after 81 minutes for 25 minutes, no wonder they couldn’t run after that, that’s just facts. If people don’t like it, I am sorry, that’s facts.”