Gillingham manager John Coleman believes there’s a fear factor in their team.
The Gills managed to lose a lead against Fleetwood and were beaten 2-1.
Report: Gillingham 1 Fleetwood 2
“Losing at home is never acceptable,” said the Gills boss.
“I feel sorry for the fans, I apologise to the fans, but it’ll fall on deaf ears. I know what it feels like to be a fan.
“The boos were there at the end. It’s a little bit hurtful when the fans sing and mock us that we’ve scored a goal, our own fans. That’s a little bit sad to hear.
“But, we killed ourselves. When we took the lead, you could see the fear in us, you could see the fear that we haven’t won for ages.
“I don’t know what I’ve got to do to get a win, because the amount of opportunities we’ve had to win games in the last month is off the graph.
“I’ve got to take responsibility, and maybe that’s with my substitutions. I thought we were on top when I made the substitutions and it weakened us. We lost our momentum.”
The Gills took the lead through Elliott Nevitt on 39 minutes but were then up against it as Fleetwood dominated for the remainder of the half, getting back on level terms just before the break.
What turned out to be the winner was scored early in the second half.
Coleman said: “We didn’t get out enough. We left a lot of space in midfield and we got picked off and they were able to run the clock down.
“Between 75 and 85 [minutes], they had the lion’s share of the ball and they were making the chances.”
The Gills are now 13 games without a win in League 2 – the last victory coming in mid-December.
“We’re desperate for a win at home,” said Coleman.
“We went with a very attacking team. I was desperate for us to take the lead, we did, with a great goal by Nev. We only had to get into half-time.
“They had a couple of shots blocked, we sat off them, we let them have the ball, our clearances weren’t positive enough and we looked weak-minded. That happens when you haven’t won for ages.
“We looked scared to win.
“We came out in the second half full of gusto.”
Fleetwood’s second goal came as the Gills were caught out in defence.
Coleman said: “I’d like to see it again, I think it’s a clear foul for us on the edge of their box. Instead of us taking a free-kick, the ball was up the other end and it’s in our net.
“That’s no excuse. That’s far from it. I am not trying to hide behind anything. We should defend that miles better than what we did.
“We’re 2-1 down and they’ve barely laid a glove on us for 40 minutes and then they’ve scored two in a few minutes.
“From thinking that you’re going to go and win the game, you’re chasing the game, and too often this season we’ve been in a situation of chasing the game.”
The Gills tried to get back into it at 2-1 down, had an effort off the bar through Oli Hawkins and other chances that went close.
“We had a really good 25-minute spell where we pinned them back,” said Coleman.
“I’ve lost count the number of times we’ve had shots blocked on the line, hit the underside of the bar with an open goal. You just feel as though you’re cursed.
“You’ve got to keep going, you’ve got to keep fighting through it, and you’ve got to believe that it’s going to be your day.
“The minute you believe it’s not going to be your day, you’re going to get results like that and it’s unacceptable.
“The players will have to come in (on Wednesday) but you know what? They’ll have to forfeit their days off, they’ve got to learn and they’ve got to see the importance of winning games for our fans, and for themselves, and for the club itself.
“There’s been excuses for the last four games, because we’ve had horrendous refereeing decisions. I’ve tried to butter it up and be nice but we’ve had four horrendous decisions in four games.
“There’s no excuse tonight. No excuse at all. That was a game that we manufactured to lose that we could have easily won.”
