Three of Gillingham's most senior players have used social media to apologise for Monday’s woeful display at Southend.

Midfielder Mark Byrne was the first to take to twitter to say sorry for their performance, which left them four goals behind at half-time.

He tweeted: “Don’t know where that first half performance came from. We apologise to all the supporters that travelled. We owe a performance next week.”

Gabriel Zakuani wore the captain's armband for the Gills in the second half, following the dismissal of skipper Lee Martin at the end of the first.

“Gutted for the fans,” he tweeted.

“We owe you one big time. We also owe it to ourselves after such a turnaround to not finish with a whimper. Time to stand up and be counted again.”

Only last week Zakuani had commented on how impressive the Gills’ defensive record had been this season.

His central defensive partner Max Ehmer also commented, saying: “All we can do is apologise (to the Gills) fans. Don’t want to make up excuses, was nowhere near good enough first half.”

The Gills will look to put it right when they host Doncaster Rovers on Saturday.