Gillingham manager Gareth Ainsworth admitted he was bewildered by the way his team performed after the break on Saturday.
The Gills threw away a 2-0 half-time lead, with the second 45 minutes seeing visitors Barrow come back at them, scoring twice to leave with a point after a 2-2 draw.
“I’m really disappointed,” said Ainsworth.
“We were so good in the first half. We looked like we were taking the game to Barrow. We looked like the team that was in the play-offs, and Barrow were the team at the bottom of the league, and then it absolutely flipped on its head in the second half.
“They had more possession of the ball, had the better chances. It just bewilders me why we dropped so deep and started defending the lead when I asked them to go and score more goals.
“At half-time I said, ‘Go and score more, go and get four, go and get five.”
The Gills conceded a first goal on 57 minutes as Barrow grew in confidence. Josh Gordon scored both, with their equaliser coming on 83 minutes.
“We weren’t as good second half by a long shot,” admitted the Gills boss.
“With the changes, obviously, I wanted to make impacts. I don’t think they made good impacts. I don’t think they changed much.
“Barrow had possession. There seemed to be big gaps on the pitch, just like we were in the first half.”
The opening half was as good as the second was bad.
Gillingham looked in complete control after Elliott Nevitt had delivered a cross that Jack Earing turned into his own net, and then Aaron Rowe added a second soon after.
Nevitt was unable to convert a great chance at 2-0 that could have put Barrow out of sight.
Reflecting on that first 45, Ainsworth said: “Bradley (Dack), Armani (Little) and Ethan (Coleman) in there were just superb. Getting all the balls, second balls, spraying the ball about. We created numerous chances and I was expecting that second half.
“We had some major, major chances in the first half that we should have put in.
“We should have been out of sight but unfortunately we weren’t. I asked for more goals at half-time. I got them from Barrow, not from Gillingham and that was the disappointing thing.
“You’ve got to give credit to the opposition. Wow, that was a shock to me.
“I definitely need to address that because I want characters. I want confident players. I want players who believe that they can go and win games.
“At the start of the season, we were doing that. I don’t want to blame the injuries, but I think a couple of the big men being out, that might have helped second half. It would have made the ball stick up front more and that would have definitely helped.
“You expect the boys to come away with a win after being 2-0 up against Barrow at home at half-time. I’m not surprised we got some boos at the end. They’re entitled to their opinion and that’s football.
“I thought first half, for all the world, we were going to go on and win comfortably, but sometimes football can bite you and it certainly did today.
“Second-half, we chucked two points away and I don’t like doing that. I’m a proud man and once I’ve got those three points, I want to keep them.”
