Defender Sam Gale admitted Gillingham’s Boxing Day display wasn’t good enough despite controlling the game.
The Gills had to settle for a point, coming back from a goal down to draw 1-1 with Cambridge United at Priestfield. It was a result that left them sitting 12th in the table.
“We came off the pitch disappointed not to win,” Gale said, following the League 2 clash and their sixth draw from seven games.
“We felt like we dominated the game.
“Even in the first half, when we went in behind, we felt like we were the team in charge. Second half, we definitely were. That’s disappointing.
“We need to start winning and turn these draws into wins quickly. But it was a positive performance. They’re one of the in-form teams in the league.
“We knew what they’d be good at. We knew they’d be strong from set-pieces, and ultimately they’ve ended up scoring from one.
“There are positives. We matched them physically. We took the game to them. We used the crowd really well at home.
“I feel like 10 minutes longer, we get the winner. But that’s football.”
The Gills fell behind to a 10th minute goal and it needed a Max Clark header on 72 minutes to level it up.
Gale said: “We go in at half-time, 1-0 down, but that’s the only real opportunity Cambridge created and fair play to them, they’ve put it away.
“It’s a good 90-minute performance from us. No, it’s not what the fans want. It’s not what we want. It’s not what everyone at the club wants to come off drawing on Boxing Day, but it’s a much more complete performance than the last two.
“I think the last two, we put in good first halves and in the second half we got found out a little bit, and we ended up losing and drawing.
“That was a much more complete performance. But ultimately, we still haven’t come out with what we wanted and that’s not good enough.
“There was a recognition that it was a much-improved performance, but ultimately our standards are high and it’s not good enough from us to come away with a draw.”
Gale was disappointing with the goal conceded saying: “It’s a shambles from us defensively.
“There could have been three of them queuing up to put it in the goal and that’s just not good enough.
“As a team who pride ourselves on our defensive stability and defending strong at home, and not letting teams get easy chances, we’ve given them a free opportunity at our goal.
“Other than that, it was a strong defensive performance. I can’t remember them creating anything. I thought as a back line we were good.
“I thought as a team we defended from the front well, but ultimately we’ve given up a really poor goal.”
The Gills have managed just one victory in League 2 in their last 13 games.
It’s seen the Gills fall off the pace of the leading sides, now seven points off the play-off positions.
They play Colchester United at home on Monday night, a side they played earlier this month in Essex, drawing 0-0.
“We need to carry momentum into that (from Boxing Day),” said the defender.
“We need to carry momentum from the Colchester game a few weeks into that. We finished strong against them.
“I think we worked them out slightly, how we wanted to deal with them, in a way which was effective for us.
“Hopefully, we can take that momentum into that game and we’ll start on the front foot and hopefully get ahead and build on it rather than having to come back.”
The Gills haven’t won at home since mid-September.
Gale said: “We don’t lose many (at home) – maybe we could win more, but we’re hard to beat here.
“The fans play a big part in that. I think it’ll be good to cap off 2025 with a win and go into the new year hopefully looking up the table.”
