Andy Hessenthaler's Gills slumped to a shock defeat at home to Lincoln on Saturday and the Gaffer pulled no punches in his assessment of the display, "I think we brought it on ourselves. The first half performance certainly wasn't good enough.

"I think teams will come here knowing that we are one of the teams that should be up there at the end of the season. They set up with one up top, and I have to say that they did it very well with Jarrett just behind.

"The goal could have been avoided, there was no real pressure to stop Albert Jarrett having a shot and then the keeper has got to do better. For me, Al has got to push that wide, but it was a good shot, and then we haven't reacted to the ball that's gone back in.

"That summed up the first half. We just weren't at the races. After that it was a case of them sitting in their and trying to frustrate us. There are no excuses, we got what we deserved."

Hessenthaler was also critical of his midfield who failed to dictate the tempo of the game in the first half, "No disrespect to Benno and Kevin but they are both similar players in the respect that they are getting on.

"We needed a bit of fire. Kevin knows why he came off. It wasn't a great afternoon for him or Benno who was sloppy with the ball in the first half. I could easily have changed two or three at half time.

"What you have to say to them is that we weren't good enough. That was because we didn't start with a good tempo. That's important for the first 20 minutes at home but we didn't do that. We looked predictable. Hopefully the boys will learn from today, I certainly will.

The Gills enjoyed an excellence home record last season but Hessenthaler believes his team face a harder challenge at Priestfield this year, "I think the difference between this year, and last year, is that there was no pressure on the team at home.

"They were in a league above and wanted to have a good year. The home form was very good but I don't think teams came here and dropped off, and defended the way that Lincoln did today. But they'll do it this season because they are going to try and frustrate us.

"That is something that we have got to overcome. That's down to myself, and the coaches, to get right on the training ground and get the boys out of that mentality but I do think that will happen a lot this season."

Putting aside his obvious frustrations Hessy stressed the importance of keeping things in perspective adding, "We are not going to be too down on ourselves. If you start doing that after three games, then you've got no chance. We need to stay positive. I could start throwing cups but how constructive is throwing a cup of tea at somebody?

"Obviously the fans got frustrated because they want to see winning football, and I can understand that. Their expectation levels are the same as mine, so I'm not going to knock them. We have to take it on the chin."

Gillingham now face two long away trips to Morecambe and Bury over consecutive weekends but the Manager is hoping that some returning faces can make an impact, "We have players coming back, the likes of Barry Fuller and Cody McDonald.

"They will come straight back into contention, and rightly so on the strength of today's performance. Today, we did not have enough options in front of goal. The big man will get us goals, but he needs a foil and hopefully Cody McDonald can be the one.