Gillingham boss Steve Lovell couldn’t defend his team following Saturday’s shocker against Shrewsbury.

They were booed off at full-time following a 2-0 defeat and Lovell wasn’t happy.

“It’s a weird feeling and I don’t know where it has come from,” he said.

“The boys haven’t performed the way I would like them to perform and if I am being honest, it does hurt personally.

“I have protected them and stuck up for them, I have worked with them and given them everything to help them this season and I feel let down, very much let down.

“It is not good, it is a horrible feeling for me."

The Gills still have enough games to ensure they don’t get dragged into a relegation scrap.

Plymouth (three places and a point worse off than the Gills) visit Priestfield on Good Friday and Lovell’s men then head to bottom-placed Bradford on Easter Monday.

“We have got a week now to think about it and prepare for next Friday,” Lovell said.

“As a manager you take it on the chin and get on with it.

“There are certain people not happy here with the result and I can’t blame them for that, it was poor. I didn’t expect that but we have to carry on.

“We have four games to go and we have to try and turn it around very quickly. We will train and forget this, it is gone.”

Lovell has been targeting 50 points for survival and they remain just two points off that, slipping to 15th in the table.

“I think 50 will be plenty,” he insisted. “Teams are playing against each other and we need two points from four games.

“It’s important that the next couple of games we get something. If we win Friday, this is forgotten. That is the way we have to look at it. We have to be positive.

“We will train hard, like we always have. When you see the boys training and then see a game like that (on Saturday) it mesmerizes you in a way, why it happens.

“There were too many people off it but we’ll put it down as a one-off.”

• It was so lacklustre says Gills boss
• Gills v Shrewsbury match report