Gillingham boss Steve Evans admitted surprise at how his team were allowed to dictate the play late on against Charlton.

When the hosts went down to 10 men at 2-2 Evans tinkered with his tactics, encouraging his team to make space to exploit, but the Addicks had no answer to it and conceded a late third.

Charlton boss Lee Bowyer criticised the decision to send his striker Chuks Aneke off after two fouls in two minutes led to a second yellow and felt his own team would have won had the player been allowed to stay on the pitch.

Speaking on Sunday, Evans said: “Those speaking after the match, looking for reasons why they get beat, perhaps should have been looking for reasons to stop us after we changed the team shape shortly before we got our winner, that tactical switch and brilliant play from a class player like Kyle Dempsey won us the match.

“I love big Chuks and he is a top class player but the referee had no option after a late silly challenge minutes after getting a yellow.

“As soon as we made the tactical change we simply took over and dominated. I must admit to being surprised our opponents did nothing to combat it, but that is not my problem.”

With Aneke off, Evans changed their system, saying: “We played with a little bit more width, created a pocket of space for Kyle Dempsey to play in and he is a special talent.”

Dempsey ghosted past defender Ben Purrington with a drop of the shoulder before rifling in a winner with 86 minutes played.

Bowyer said after the match: “If you don’t get that red card, we go on to win that game. If you give one for a yellow, you don’t give the other.

“It’s a contact sport. Just because you make contact doesn’t mean it’s a yellow card. If you’re getting rugby tackled, that’s a yellow card. If he catches him trying to go for the ball that’s not always a yellow card. These decisions are the difference between winning and losing.”

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