Gillingham’s fighting spirit was appreciated by manager Steve Lovell.

The Gills let a one-goal lead slip, going 2-1 behind, but still managed to bag a point.

“I was very pleased,” said the manager.

Report: Shrewsbury Town 2 Gillingham 2

“They worked hard and did well in the first half to go into the lead.

"We had a couple of good opportunities as well but Shrewsbury threw everything at us and we defended really well.

“I was disappointed to have conceded the equaliser and the second goal was a killer blow to us but it shows the character we have, people want to roll their sleeves up and keep going and Mr Eaves came on and got our goal.

“I am pleased for the boys that they got a point. When you are on a bad run it tends to go against you. 2-1 down, you think ‘flippin heck, here we go again’ but fair play, they dug in and we did well.

“I am pleased with the boys, they have given everything, and deserved to get a point.”

Gillingham were leading at the break but conceded just before the hour mark.

Lovell said: “Had we held out for another 10 minutes I think we would have won the game but credit to the boys, it was a good point.

“They are disappointed in the dressing room, they feel we should’ve won the game.

“Their goals have come from counter attacks, the second one particularly, we had the ball on the edge of the box but again we lose it and they go and get a goal. It seems to be happening too frequently, it is something we will keep working on and we will get it right.

“The frustrating thing is that we can defend and defend very well, it is just that the odd occasion when we lose our shape a bit and teams seem to be punishing us at the moment,

“Tomas Holy (the Gills keeper) didn’t have a great deal to do, regarding shots, it was just a few crosses he took and I thought he had another good game.

“There were a lot of pluses and players who worked hard and we can build next week now for a tough game against Portsmouth (next Saturday).”