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Gillingham boss Steve Evans admits their play-off dream is now over following the loss at Oxford United.
The Gills threw away a two-goal lead to lose 3-2. They are now six points adrift of the play-off places with just four games remaining. They go to title-chasing Peterborough United on Tuesday.
“We are done now, we’re done, we accept it,” said Evans, when asked about their play-off hopes.
“I have said it before but we are done.”
The Gills surged back into the play-off hunt after losing 1-0 at Wimbledon in February, picking up positive results against the likes of Ipswich Town, Lincoln City and Hull City. Victory over Wigan took them up to sixth briefly.
But they followed up that Wigan win with a 4-1 loss at Blackpool, failed to beat lowly Shrewsbury and have now thrown away the game at Oxford from a winning position.
Evans concedes they now have too much to do.
“It’s a big opportunity lost,” he said following the 3-2 loss.
“We are not silly, we look at league tables, teams have games in hand, Oxford have a six points advantage, others have better goals.”
Evans picked up manager of the month for March as the Gills climbed from 15th to sixth but they finished this weekend back down in 11th, still having played more games than most in the top half.
Evans said: “We have been trying to resurrect it and keep it going and when big moments have come we have not dealt with them. A win would have put us three points off it, four to go including a game at London Road.
“Even allowing for that not going to plan then we had margin for error with games we fancied if we were in the mix. We are not in the mix anymore, we are done, we will go and try and represent the club with some real pride on Tuesday and try and take on a team that are absolutely outstanding.”
