Midfielder Mark Byrne said some of his Gillingham team-mates were hampered by nerves at the weekend.

The Gills were two goals down early on against Walsall and never recovered.

“I don’t think we deserved anything,” said the 30-year-old.

“We have got to help each other out, first half we didn’t.

“We have got to have the courage to get on the ball and do what we do in training. Away from home we aren’t too bad but sometimes at home we can be a bit nervous.

“I think a few lads were nervous playing at home.

“We play some good football away from home, we are a good side, but it is getting that courage and mental strength of digging through.

“The gaffer sees it in the week, we can do it then, but it’s a different story on a Saturday.”

The Gills were a goal down after just nine minutes against Walsall and gave away another 10 minutes later.

Both were sloppy, Byrne admitted, but the players were confident they could have made a fightback in the second half.

That took a major knock when they conceded a third goal shortly after kick-off.

He said: “At half-time we thought we could try and get another goal and push them but then two minutes in we gave away another sloppy goal.

“That seems to be our problem, we are giving away goals too easily.

“The gaffer told us the game plan and told us the guy who got the hat-trick (Andy Cook) always peels off to the back post and two of his goals were at the back post. These errors we need to cut out, we need to switch on.

“People are not taking command. We have to be more vocal and try and help each other out.”

Defeat leaves the Gills one point off the bottom four. They could be inside the drop zone by the end of next weekend.

“We are in a bad situation,” conceded the Irishman. “We need to start picking up points to get out of it.

“We can do it but we need to be consistent. There are times you have to grind it out.

“You need to be picking up those points because come the end of the season those points could be vital.”