Winger Jermaine McGlashan admitted their slow start proved costly.

It led to a heated half-time teamtalk, which helped kick-start the Gills, but in the end even that wasn’t enough as they slipped to a 1-0 home loss against Fleetwood Town.

McGlashan said: “The gaffer had a few words at half-time and although we did give it a go in the second half he is frustrated that he has had to do that. There was no reason for us to have started like we did.

“Fair play to Fleetwood, we gave them a scrappy goal and they did well to hold their lead.

“We gave it everything the second half, we got crosses in the box and they blocked a few shots but we probably lacked that cutting edge or quality that was needed to finish it off. That was the most frustrating thing. We gave it a go.

“The gaffer has talked about waiting for things to happen or going a goal behind. In the first half we didn’t get started and that’s all eleven of us. Second half we knocked on the door a few times but probably lacked that bit of quality.”

The Gills had performed well just six days previously, winning 2-1 away at Crawley, but failed to reach those same standards.

“It was all set for us off the back of Crawley,” said the winger.

“We should be confident but we just didn’t get going in the first half. We took a bit of a rollocking at half-time and we then played how we should have started. That makes it more frustrating but Monday (at Leyton Orient) is another chance to perform.”