Portsmouth come from behind as Gills knocked out of FA Youth Cup at Priestfield.
Mark Patterson said it was disappointing to be knocked out in the first round of the FA Youth Cup but said he couldn’t fault his squad for the effort shown.
Leroy Hlabi scored from the penalty spot after three minutes but Portsmouth fought back and eventually prevailed 2-1 after extra-time having scored in the 103rd minute.
After the game Mark said: “I don’t think we fell down on a lack of effort and application; I think we lacked control and quality at times, unopposed and giving the ball away too many times.
“A lot of the effort was trying to recover the ball after we had given it away when we didn’t need to. Unfortunately tonight we’ve come out on the wrong side.
“I think overall a 1-1 draw after 90 minutes was probably a fair reflection of the game. We didn’t take the opportunities we had early on and we let them back in it.
“We’ve got to do better; our decision making wasn’t quite as clear as it could be and there was no reason for it because it wasn’t like we were chasing the game. We were in the game; we were on top for long periods but I didn’t feel that we were going to concede and then an error led to the second goal.
“There’s some disappointed players in the dressing room. We felt it was a game that we were capable of winning but unfortunately tonight we just couldn’t get across the finish line.
“We take nothing away from Portsmouth though. Fair play to Mikey, Daishy and the boys and good luck to them in the next round. Hopefully they go through.”
Patto has been helping Steve Lovell out in the first team during the last two weeks and is happy to be of assistance; however he will not be taking his eye off the youth team.
He added: “Since Peter and Ady left Steve has needed a hand so I’ve helped out but we’re still working with the younger ones as well. We had a good win at Rotherham which was deserved following on from Peterborough; disappointing against Northampton but the performance wasn’t poor, we just came unstuck with a couple of good goals.
“Same as tonight really; it wasn’t a poor performance; we just could have done a bit better. You learn from your disappointments; we can’t change it and we have to get on with it. We are hopeful we can get one or two players through into the pro ranks.”