After watching his team lose 0-1 to Tranmere last night at krbs Priestfield, Manager Mark Stimson admitted that the performance simply wasn't good enough. "Performance wise it was poor and obviously the result was worse than that. It's surprising because we've been in since Saturday, we've spoken about it and tried to put a team out who we thought would have enough to beat Tranmere.

"We just asked them to get the ball down in the opponents half and play, get it wide and get wingers taking on full-backs. We wanted to get Curtis Weston running in behind, using his pace, in the position where he's probably played his best games for the club this season, against Millwall and Leeds.

"We wanted to get the ball into Jackson, to get hold of it and set it back. It was good on the training ground yesterday but obviously tonight it didn't happen and I'm very, very disappointed."

Stimson made four changes to his starting XI following Saturday's defeat at Brentford and explained the thinking behind his tactics, "The plan was to try and mix things up against Tranmere and I thought those changes would be a big help with Curtis in that position. It didn't really happen though, we didn't give him enough of the ball and he dropped to deep to try and get the ball.

"We said at half time that it was a great improvement on Saturday and if we can step up a gear we've got a great chance. But goals change games, at the start of the second half we hit the woodwork and it came out, they hit the woodwork and it fell to their player. That's the luck you need."

With his side dropping into the relegation zone for the first time this season, Stimson knows his side will need to show their character but feels some players may need a reality check, adding "There is so much ability there but for some reason we're not producing it.

"That's the frustrating thing for me. I know they can all play and they show you on the training pitch that it's going to work but you've got to work that but harder in the game, be prepared to take a kick from behind or a pull of your shirt.

That is frustrating; there were players tonight with a lot of ability that didn't give us any of that. It looks as though they are lacking confidence but for me personally I'd say they are lacking bottle. They might be thinking, "Hey, I might get a whack here", but so what? Get a whack, get up and get on with it.

"Some of them tonight looked like they were waiting for it. Tranmere came with a game plan, they were on the front foot, stepped in and they wanted something out of the game whereas a couple of our flair players didn't want to get that whack and that's hard for me to take.

"Last year, in League Two, every game was blood and thunder and you're getting whacked left, right and centre but they did it. Now we've come up to a new League and some of them are just looking over their shoulder, waiting for the man.

The fans made their feelings clear at the final whistle with a vocal demonstration towards the Gills Manager and Stimson felt their criticism was fully justified, "I thought the fans were brilliant. They tried to get behind the team in the first half but there wasn't a lot for them to get excited about."

"In the second half they got vocal when we hit the bar early on but at the end, we lost to Tranmere and they're below us so I expect that. It's not nice but I expect it because they are frustrated just like myself. That's their way of showing their frustration."