Justin Edinburgh reacts to the 2-1 defeat at Oldham Athletic
Gillingham manager Justin Edinburgh believes his players let victory slip away from them in Saturday's 2-1 defeat away to Oldham Athletic.
Doug Loft's sensational first half strike counted for nothing, as the hosts fought back to win thanks to goals from Timothee Dieng and Jonathan Forte.
The Gills slip to third in Sky Bet League One, leapfrogged by Wigan Athletic, with Edinburgh ruing how the game played out.
“It's disappointing, bitterly disappointing,” he said. “I'm frustrated and feel we've let the game slip away. It was contrasting from the first half to the second, it's becoming a bit of a pattern away from home of surrendering leads.
“We've come off it; there was everything good about an away performance first half, but second half we took a step back, allowed Oldham in the game, gave them two poor goals. It was all our own doing.”
Aaron Morris filled in at centre back, replacing the injured John Egan, who Edinburgh believes is likely to be absent for six to eight weeks. However, the Gills manager did not use this as an excuse for the result.
“He got injured on Wednesday, so we've had plenty of time [to [prepare],” Edinburgh added. “We had to shuffle the pack, but that's no excuse.
“First half it didn't affect us, Aaron and Max [Ehmer] did well at centre half. We then went too deep in the second half, gave them too much ground and if you do that the wrong things happen.”
Edinburgh added he is hopeful of re-signing Deji Oshilaja on loan from Cardiff in the forthcoming days, having attempted to do so before this fixture.
“I think Cardiff had one or two injuries and suspensions, and they've got a game Tuesday, but we're hoping to conclude the deal midweek,” he said.