Defeat on Saturday was hard to take for Gillingham boss Justin Edinburgh, who felt Barnsley were fortunate to take all three points.

The 1-0 loss ended Gills' eight game unbeaten run but Edinburgh didn’t feel like the visitors deserved to be going home with maximum points.

“I don’t like losing, simple as,” said Edinburgh, who had tasted two victories and a draw in his first three games as manager at Priestfield.

“I didn’t feel it was a game to lose. If we had come off 0-0 the unbeaten run would have continued, with a clean sheet and you can come back another day when the conditions are better and be able to play football. It is hard to take because I couldn’t see us losing to be honest.

“We had too many players who didn’t perform to the level they have, certainly in the time I have been here. In terms of the game, I didn’t feel that either team was going to win it.

“The game was played in difficult conditions, it was very treacherous under foot and we will be disappointed with the goal we conceded and perhaps had the better chances to get back into the game, or to have won it.”

The goal that won it came when the Gills were down to ten men.

Bradley Garmston had limped off but the home side were unable to get substitute Joe Martin ready in time before they conceded.

“You don’t want 10 players on the pitch,” said the manager.

“We would have liked to have made the substitution but we couldn’t get that done.

“As a group we will be disappointed with the goal we conceded.

“It was a frustrating afternoon and I said to the players, ‘if you’re not going to win those games then you certainly don’t want to be losing them’. They hurt more than anything.

“You can’t really say that Barnsley deserved to win that game, in terms of the way they played, or chances created. Both teams found it difficult and it looked like it was going to fade out to a draw.”

The Gills did almost level in stoppage-time, with a chance for Jermaine McGlashan, but he couldn’t finish with just the keeper to beat.

Edinburgh said: “When you get a chance like that in a game, where there have been very little chances, you have to go and take that.

“He has scored important goals in the last couple of weeks. We will be disappointed with the goal we didn’t get and the one we conceded. That is the difference, in the box. One chance, you have to dispatch them when a game is as tight and as horrible as it was.

“It wasn’t a good spectacle and it was very difficult. The wind played its part but you have to deal with it as a professional. If I am honest, everyone would have sat there and said a 0-0 was on the cards.”