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Gillingham manager Steve Evans has responded to criticism from Lincoln captain Liam Bridcutt after Tuesday’s match at Sincil Bank.
The Gills won the game 3-0 but Bridcutt wasn’t happy at losing against a ream who “don’t play pretty football” and one who are managed by his former boss.
Evans was Bridcutt’s manager at Leeds but the player was less than impressed after his current side’s promotion hopes suffered a blow with a home defeat against Gillingham.
He said: “Losing games is always disappointing, to lose to a side like that is hard to take.
“All respect for them, they don’t play pretty football, they have two big men that they hit and it works at times. That kind of football is only going to get you so far but on the night it was the right decision for them.”
In a further comment to Lincolnshire Live, he added: “It’s each to their own how they want to play.
“The most disappointing thing for me is to lose against Steve Evans, to be honest.”
Evans was asked about Bridcutt’s words on Wednesday and said: “Liam is the captain and a fine young man. His career was in the doldrums at Sunderland and then I signed him on loan at Leeds and he was absolutely tremendous.
“I think highly of him and I noticed when he did his interview his manager was two yards behind him, that was interesting.”
Lincoln boss Michael Appleton hadn’t been glowing about the Gills, responding to the goals they conceded by saying: “It can happen against that lot. It can be difficult at times to defend against.
“That is not my concentration, we are not going to be facing that every week, we will play Sunderland who will be more pragmatic and Oxford will be a good side, MK are coming soon.
“God knows how many more times we were in their box, probably treble the amount they were in our box. It was just that bit of quality.”
Gillingham had lost 3-0 to Lincoln last month at Priestfield and reversing that scoreline has done wonders to Evans’ side's play-off hopes, but there was no big celebration from the winning manager afterwards.
Evans said: “We didn’t resort to singing and howling like we had to endure when Lincoln won at our place. We retreated to our dressing room in a calm manner. I had listened and read some of the pre-match stuff (said by the Imps manager) and had a wry smile when the coach departed from Sincil Bank.”
Read more:
Defender picks up injury in win at Lincoln
'We could have won by more' - Evans
