Gills boss happy with a point but felt his side's display warranted all three against Wigan.
Steve Lovell was delighted with the performance of his Gillingham side against a top-class outfit in Wigan Athletic, but was disappointed that the Gills were unable to put the game to bed after a dominant second half display saw them draw 1-1.
Tom Eaves, returning from suspension, gave Gillingham the lead early on in the second half but the Gills were forced to rue a number of missed chances after they bossed the game, as a late rally from the Latics ended with Sam Morsy curling home a superb equaliser from the edge of the box to deny Gillingham all three points.
Lovell was pleased to see the Gills ride out the early Wigan pressure to put in a performance that, he thought, merited all three points.
“We knew they were a quality side and at the start I thought, flipping heck, what’s going to happen here. We had to change it very quickly [to a 4-4-2] formation, and it worked. They’ve got some quality players and we matched them tonight.
“Every one of them gave 100%; they ran all and day all night; they went through cramp. [Elliot] Listy and [Tom] Eavesy, at the end, couldn’t have given any more.
“I’m just disappointed that we only scored one goal. We had two chances at 1-0 that would have put the game beyond Wigan. On the whole, second half, I’m disappointed that we haven’t won it.”
As a fan of the club, Lovell was delighted to put a smile back on the face of the Gills faithful, and believes that there is more to come from his resurgent side.
“Any supporter of any football club wants something to cheer about. They [the fans] were brilliant on Saturday and they were brilliant again tonight.
“It was brilliant [the standing ovation at the end]. You do it for the players, you do it for the supporters.
“All they want to see is players that are going to roll their sleeves up and work. I said to the lads that if they show same commitment as Saturday with a little bit more class on the ball, then we’d get something.
“We’ve got to start passing the ball a little bit quicker, and when we did that we created chances. It’s getting there slowly.”
The Gills caretaker boss quickly turned his attention to the Northampton game at the weekend, in a crucial clash at the bottom of the league.
“There are no breaks. I’m already preparing for Northampton now – I’ve got the report downstairs which I’ll read tonight.
“We’ve got four points out of the two games, so now we need to back that up with a result on Saturday and then it will be a good week.”