Gillingham boss Neil Harris didn’t feel his team deserved anything from their trip to Northampton.

A stunning strike from Will Hondermarck handed the promotion chasers all three points eight minutes from time in League at Sixfields after substitute Aiden O’Brien had cancelled out Louis Appere’s first-half opener.

“I need to watch the game back but I thought the first half was poor again, like Barrow,” said Harris, whose side have won just one of their last eight away games.

“We’ve got many players good at home but crap away, so that needs to change for next season.

“We changed shape at half-time to match them up and make it easier for us to get closer to the ball because when I let players make decisions, they make a lot of wrong decisions. I’m learning about my players all the time.

“There wasn’t a great deal in the game, second half in particular very scrappy. For me we didn’t do enough against the ball to get close enough to them and then with the ball we just turned it over too cheaply.

“There was a couple of impact subs and we scored straight away, it was a bonus to get Aiden a goal but it was just a poor goal conceded late in the game on the road.”

O’Brien was part of a triple substitution made by Gills boss Harris just past the hour mark, with Alex MacDonald and Ethan Coleman also introduced.

He scored with his first touch and Gills then appeared to have the upper hand before conceding late on.

“He's been excellent since he’s got here,” Harris said of O’Brien. “He’s not had the impact on the pitch at times.

“I’ve played him off the left and if I don’t play a left-footed left-back it can be difficult for Aiden to really benefit with somebody not going round the outside of him.

“But we’ve been that good at home, the combinations have worked. Away from home I just felt the game would open up a little bit for him off the bench - him and Macca - and so it proved.

“They’re a good team, they are going to get promoted this year for a reason, they’re one of the best sides in the division. There wasn’t a lot in the game, I just expect a little bit more at times.”

On the late goal conceded by Gills, Harris said there’s plenty to look back on to see if his team could have defended differently.

“I look at phases of play,” he stated. “It’s a really good strike and there’s nothing Glenn can do about it for sure.

“But do we get out of our box quick enough? Do we close the ball down? Do we give the ball away too cheaply in the build-up play?

“These are the little things that are important. That’s why teams who are at the top of the league do things consistently well.”