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Gillingham boss Steve Evans felt his side did more than enough to win Tuesday’s Carabao Cup tie - but missed chances cost them.
The Gills has a penalty saved, hit the woodwork twice and missed a number of good chances against League 2 Newport.
Visitors Newport made the Gills pay for their failure to kill the tie off, winning on penalties after the game ended 2-2.
Report: Gillingham 2 Newport 2 (Newport win 4-1 on penalties)
“We were dominant and the performance was good,” said the Gills manager.
“We had to deal with a bit of an aerial threat and that is how (Michael) Flynn’s team play, they just launch it.
“I thought we played some good stuff and if we had taken our chances we could have scored six or seven. We didn’t take our chances.
"It was a game of missed chances. We played a lot better than on the Saturday, there was a lot of good play, a lot on the front foot and we should be through in the cup."
It ended up a game of penalties. The Gills were awarded three, scoring two of them, but Newport converted one of their own in stoppage-time to take the tie to a shoot-out.
Evans said: “We got three penalties and there was not one that anyone in the ground will dispute.
“Everyone in the ground apart from the Newport boys would dispute the equaliser (Padraig Amond scored from the penalty spot to make it 2-2) at the end there because it was never a penalty. It was given for a tug by Mikael Ndjoli and there is no tug.
“I have looked at it on the video, slowed it down, there was no tug. That is Mr Kettle (the referee) for you. The boy who he was meant to have touched said he didn’t get touched, he slipped.
“The referee has given them an equaliser and penalty shoot-outs are always what they are, but we lost the cup tie because of our inability to take chances. We made a lot of chances, and probably between the front boys we could have had six or seven.
“We are disappointed, of course we are disappointed to have gone out, but we build on it and wish Newport every success in the next round.”
