Gillingham manager Steve Evans is considering changes for their midweek trip to Peterborough United after his team self destructed at Oxford.

The Gills gave away a two-goal lead at the Kassam Stadium, conceding three times in a 20-minute spell, and after watching that collapse Evans admits he fears the worst if the same lack of defensive discipline happens at London Road tonight (Tuesday).

Evans said: “If we are not matching runners at Oxford how do we match runners at Peterborough? They are a far superior side and make more runs. It was always going to be a worry and it is even more of a worry when we don’t do the basics.”

The Gills manager said he would assess his players in training before making a final decision on whether to make a switch.

He said: “I have no interest in whether that lessons what we are about going to Peterborough and whether that gives them an advantage, that is not my job, my job is to concentrate on what we’ve got.

“Some didn’t do their jobs and I need to look and say, ‘well, Peterborough are by far a better team than Oxford and that is a fact'. I have to make a decision.

“I watched them on Friday (beat Northampton Town) and they were superb, they won 3-1 and it could have been five or six.

“They are a much better side than Oxford and it terrifies me that we couldn’t match runners at Oxford and they have much more pace, much more ability in the front four, that is what worries me.”

The 3-2 loss at Oxford all-but ended the team’s hopes of a League 1 play-off place. The spirits certainly took a hit and Evans hopes he can get them fired up again for a game against title-chasing Posh - a team he recently managed.

“It is our job to raise spirits, to keep it level,” he said.

“You can’t take out of your head the individual mistakes and individuals with simple, simple instructions, which they did for 74 minutes and it doesn’t become irrelevant in the last 10-15 minutes of the game.

"It is nothing to do with fitness, nothing to do with being fresh, we made sure they were fresh, it is just a lack of on-field discipline.

“If you don’t track a runner then you concede against better players, and they were good players, with a massive budget by the way, one that genius that manages them (Karl Robinson) tells us that he has not got.”

Peterborough have by far the best home record in League 1 and a player in Jonson Clarke-Harris who is leading the way for the division’s golden boot, hitting 28 league goals so far.

Two of those goals came in a 3-1 win over the Gills at Priestfield in February. Evans knows all about the striker from their time at Rotherham United together.

“I loved him,” said Evans. “I had him at Rotherham and I loved Dembele (who he signed for Posh).

“I have got enormous respect for the club we are going to play, from the chairman down to the manager and a lot of those players, some of whom played under me, they are a wonderful side.

“They have been wonderful all season but my job is to come up with a game plan to make it a contest. We had a plan to make it a contest at Oxford and for 73 minutes there was one team in it but a game never lasts 73 minutes.

“They found a way to win. Was it deserving? No, but if you make the errors that three of our players make then you deserve what you get.”

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