Striker Cody McDonald was gutted that his two goals weren’t enough to bag Gills the points on Monday.

A goal either side of the break put Gillingham 3-1 up against Leyton Orient but the hosts fought back to level the match.

He said: “I was very pleased to score the two goals but at the end of the day it’s a team game and we’re very disappointed that we didn’t see it out at the end.

“From being 3-1 up we should have seen the game out, whether we are home or away. Overall it was a good performance but disappointed with the way it ended.”

McDonald was back in the starting XI after being relegated to the bench in the last two.

He responded with a double, to take his tally for the season to 18, scoring his first with a precision header just before the break.

“There wasn’t a great deal of pace on the cross but Dacky put it pinpoint,” said the striker.

“If it was lower I would have brought it down and gone across the defender, but when you are trying to control it with your head it can get away from you.

“I just thought I would head it to the far corner and it went right into that corner, may have just clipped the inside of the post.”

McDonald then fired home from the spot after Luke Norris had been fouled in the area.

“As a team we were thinking we could go on and get a couple more,” he said.

“We were playing really good football at the time, we were getting in down the wings, with good crosses into the box but a lapse in concentration cost us the goal for them to get back into it at 3-2.

“When you are away from home you expect an onslaught. They did that and we couldn’t quite see it out.”

McDonald accepted the decision to leave him out recently and hit back in the right way.

He said: “The manager wanted to change things up and I haven’t got a problem with that. He wants to have a look at players and that is not a problem.

“Obviously I want to play every week and I was disappointed but he makes the decisions and I respect that.

“I was really happy to get a start again and I couldn’t have responded much better really.”