Manager Mark Bonner has explained why his Gillingham team found it hard to get going against Fleetwood on Saturday.

While the Gills defended solidly throughout and kept clear-cut chances to a minimum, they struggled to string passes together going the other way at times - particularly in the opening hour.

Bonner was pleased to come away with a point given the way Fleetwood play and the problems that can cause.

“It's a really good point, one we're definitely going to respect as it was as tough a game as we thought it would be,” explained the Gills boss.

“It was really hard for us, in the first half we couldn't get out and couldn't get enough pressure high up the pitch.

“The biggest problem was we turned over the ball so quickly, we were reliant on singular moments on counter attacks rather than enough periods of control.

“I did feel we finished the strongest and looked the more likely to get something in the last 10 minutes. They probably went a little bit protective in the way they changed the team and I thought we chased the game really well in the end.

“I love that mentality to try and win, but I didn't think there was enough of that confidence throughout large parts of the game.

“We made it a really tough afternoon for ourselves and they're good enough to do that to you anyway. I think they've got some really brilliant players who caused us lots of problems.

“We called this game and the next couple as a real marker for where we are and we can see the work that we've got to do as they caused us some problems.

“Having said that, to come away again and keep a clean sheet and defend the box as well as we did at times, we might have got a bit fortunate on a couple but I think they did too.

“We had some good moments that might have taken but we're really happy to take something away on the back of last week.”

There was a tactical switch in the second half that helped the Gills wrestle back a measure of control.

The introduction of the likes of Aaron Rowe also contributed as they carried the ball higher up the pitch.

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Report: Fleetwood 0-0 Gillingham

“We made a slight change to how we pressed and that helped us get more control and force them back so it was a good thing for us to learn about how we’re going to do that against certain teams next time,” explained Bonner.

“To come away, we knew it was going to be really tough and we haven’t found a rhythm with the team yet - but we will, and we’ll get better when that happens.

“We couldn't quite get control of the middle of the pitch, we were in between too often of when to get pressure high and then the job becomes so hard for Robbie McKenzie and Armani Little in the middle as they have such big distances to travel.

“The way Mark Helm and Danny Mayor play in midfield, they play such a big open triangle, it's huge distances to cover and they outnumber you so you get a bit deeper. Then they start playing through you and that happened a bit often so it was easy for them to get to the box too often and that's why we couldn't get any control in the first half.”