Gillingham’s dominant attacking play against Newport was no consolation for manager Mark Bonner after another defeat for his side.
The Gills started the game better and were the only side attacking in the second half, finishing the game with a shot count of 25-4, but two sloppy moments proved costly for the hosts.
Report: Gills 0 Newport 2
“We gave them the game in the first half,” the Gills boss admitted.
“It’s the most dominant we’ve been by miles in any game, but it doesn’t matter.
“You just can’t talk about that in the end because we’ve chased, we’ve had chances, they’ve defended the box for their lives in the second half.
“They’ve had nothing second half. They’ve had a couple of moments first half that we’ve given them. We’ve had good chances in the game, yet we come off not scoring, losing and the run of results we’re on is rotten.
“It just becomes a horrible night for us, a horrible result.
“I thought we were way, way better than they were if I’m being honest.”
Newport took the lead through Matt Baker as he volleyed home a free-kick played into the box and then ran through the Gills midfield to create the second. Kyle Hudlin finishes a breakaway move from Bobby Kamwa’s cross with 33 minutes gone.
“The two goals that we give them just makes the game really hard,” Bonner said.
“In some respects, when you’re two down and you’re chasing something, it’s fairly easy to chase. We’ve got to be that at 0-0, that at 1-0, because the two goals that we give them are just criminal.
“We give a really sloppy, soft, free-kick away and then the second goal, it happened two, maybe three times in the half, where we get counter-attacked because we don’t secure the middle of the pitch, don’t counter-press well enough.”
Gillingham weren’t short of chances, some good ones too, with keeper Nick Townsend saving well from Jayden Clarke in the first half and Marcus Wyllie in the second.
There were also countless blocks and missed opportunities.
Bonner said: “Any of the good stuff in the game isn’t worth a conversation, unfortunately.
“The overall picture is we haven’t been good enough and what we’re aspiring to do and want to do as a club, we’re a long, long way from that at the moment, from the level needed to do it.
“After a good start in the first block of games, the last block of games is a sign of a team that’s got a lot to do.”
