Gillingham need to sharpen up, says boss Steve Lovell after Tuesday’s FA Cup defeat to League 2 Carlisle United.

The Gills have developed a habit of losing out to lower-league sides in the FA Cup but Lovell hopes they’ve learned from their latest misadventure.

In the last 10 years the Gills have lost to lower-league opposition seven times.

“They have to learn,” said Lovell, who is preparing his side for a League 1 game at Fleetwood on Friday night.

“You can’t just turn up to a game and expect to play. You have to win your battles and earn your right to play.

“Tuesday was a bit of a shock and I let them know. On Friday we will see the team starting positively. I will get a reaction.

“They will learn. It’s not about the effort, because they put that in. It is the simple things, like passing the ball five or 10 yards and doing it quickly, getting the ball in the box, getting people across the goalkeeper to create chances and get goals.

“Those things annoy me because we work on it daily in training, like the finishing. Getting people into areas to go and finish it is something we do on a daily basis.

“With the amount of good balls our boys put into the box (on Tuesday), you would expect people to be on the end of them but they weren’t.

“I don’t understand why they don’t do it (in matches) when we do it in training.

“Hopefully, we will get through to them and on Friday we will see a different outcome, with people throwing their heads in the box and putting their chances away.”

Read the full story in Thursday's Medway Messenger