Paul Raynor delivers an honest assessment as Gills lose at home to Exeter in the FA Cup.
Gills Assistant Manager Paul Raynor said Saturday’s performance wasn’t good enough, and Exeter deserved to go through in the FA Cup.
Vadaine Oliver put the Gills a goal up at MEMS Priestfield Stadium, but Exeter scored three times in 11 minutes to give Steve Evans’ men a mountain to climb after the break, and although Dominic Samuel pulled a goal back, the League 2 side held on to book their place in round three.
Speaking after the game, Raynor said: “Rubbish, particularly in the first half. We have said to the boys if you disrespect a quality team like Exeter then you get beat.
“In the first half they didn’t listen to what we said, we didn’t close them down, we didn’t track runners and we got what we deserved. Over 90 minutes they deserved to go through, and we don’t.
“We warned them before the game; don’t be complacent, because these can play. The Gaffer saw them play at Bradford and could have won 6-2. We showed them clips from their game at Colchester, we just seemed a little bit lacklustre and not as sharp as we could be.
“You could see they had too much time on the ball, too much composure, we weren’t tracking forward runs so even though we were 1-0 up, we were wary there was a backlash coming and we didn’t play with the same intensity we normally do.
“It was too easy for Exeter; you can’t play for the last 10 minutes of the 90, throw the kitchen sink at them and expect to go through in the cup. It doesn’t work like that; it’s a 90-minute game and we were not good enough on the day.
“Really disappointed, but congratulations to Exeter because they deserved it on the day.
“We are not here to make excuses, it wasn’t good enough.”
Gills take to the road on Wednesday to play Bristol Rovers and Paul said changes are likely to be made.
He added: “There will be changes because that first half performance was totally unacceptable. There will be different personnel, people that need to wake up and improve and we will make sure that they do.”