Gaffer takes positives from EFL Trophy defeat.
Gillingham boss Steve Evans admitted that missed chances cost his side during Tuesday night’s Leading.Com Trophy tie against Colchester at Priestfield.
Goals from Mikael Mandron and Stuart O’Keefe were not enough as Evans was left to bemoan more missed opportunities for the Gills as the visitors won 3-1.
“The fact is that Colchester took their chances during the game,” he said. “We get level at 1-1 and then we should go and be about three or four up. We talked about Mikael scoring but he has two chances to put us ahead at the break and he doesn’t take them.
“Their second goal we stand off them and let them have a free strike at goal, perhaps we should do better and the third goal was cheap but we created enough chances and had enough possession to win a couple of games tonight.”
With the League One transfer window now closed, Evans continues to actively recruit any free agents that may help improve his squad and added to the team on Wednesday with the capture of Ben Pringle.
“The benchmark to get in this first team has risen and we know the quality we have in this group of players so we only want players that can help that further.”
Despite the defeat, Evans did praise the two goal scorers on the night for the Gills, not just because of their goals but their work rate when coming on.
“I think you can see how much stronger we were when we made the substitutions. We totally dominated the game from there on in but we have to go again.
“People won’t want to hear it because Colchester won the game but we dominated for large periods of the game. We wish Colchester well for the rest of the season especially in the Carabao Cup against Tottenham Hotspur.”
