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Gillingham boss Steve Evans admitted his team’s chances of making the play-offs are a lot harder now following a midweek defeat.
The Gills travelled to Fleetwood off the back of wins against MK Dons and Ipswich Town but a second minute penalty settled the match at Highbury Stadium on Tuesday.
Despite the defeat the Gills remain five points off the play-off positions but they have played more games than most of those teams above them.
They travel to struggling Swindon Town this Saturday.
Following the Fleetwood defeat, Evans said: “We went away really disappointed, it was a big chance to go there and win, but it makes it a real uphill task when the referee does that to you. He’s running around calling the Fleetwood players by their first names and that’s not right.
“We will make changes (for Swindon). I have said before, it is gone for us now, it is really hard for us now, we need to give others players a chance.
“Players have played for three or four weeks and done well for us but I just think for some they get the shirt and it is an automatic pick and you can see the players we took off were not affecting the game. Lee and Graham were poor.”
Evans added that “all our so called big players failed to play with the energy levels you need to win a game.”
Gillingham will now have to assess the fitness of Ryan Jackson following his knock. He was replaced in the second half on Tuesday night by Robbie McKenzie.
Gills boss Evans threatened changes following the recent 1-0 loss to Wimbledon and both McKenzie and John Akinde were dropped to the bench. Since then the manager had named the same starting eleven for four consecutive games.
Players such as Tyreke Johnson and James Morton have seen little action in a Gills shirt and will be hoping to have more involvement this weekend if Evans opts to leave some of his bigger names out.
Weekend opponents Swindon are fighting a relegation battle and a 2-1 defeat to Oxford United on Tuesday was their third straight loss, a result which saw them drop to 22nd in the table.
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