Gillingham manager Gareth Ainsworth admitted Saturday’s performance was the worst since he became manager.
The Gills were beaten 3-0 by Oldham and were greeted at the end of the match by a chorus of boos from the home fans as their side slid to 16th in League 2.
Report: Gills 0 Oldham 3
“I didn’t see it coming,” Ainsworth said. “It wasn’t good enough, and I’ve had a go at the boys at the end of the game, saying it wasn’t good enough, it’s not acceptable.
“There are details that we’ll go into, but it was way short of the level, and that’s why we’ve been beat 3-0.”
Gillingham were 2-0 down after just 17 minutes, conceding both following corner kicks, with Calum Kavanagh and Emmanuel Monthe scoring.
The Gills pushed for a goal back towards the end of the opening half, but it never came.
Winger Garath McCleary was forced off at the break with an injury, and Oldham added a third in the second half.
Ainsworth said: “We didn’t defend well at all in that first 20 minutes.
“They bullied us, they got the better of us too many times.
“A couple of set pieces, again, we’ve conceded, and then we need to score when we’re on top in that period.
“I firmly believe there’s a penalty on Sam Vokes [in the first half] and that probably changes things a little bit. Sometimes you don’t get them, so we’ve got to accept that.
“Bradley Dack’s been really unlucky, their keeper’s made a couple of amazing saves. We were really going well, really aggressive, and I thought Garath was causing all sorts of problems down the right there.
“We get at half-time, and I’m told that Garath McCleary’s got to come off because of an injury.
“We changed formation in the second half. Chances again, we’ve got to stick them in, but the third goal again just sums the performance up. Very poor.
“Not good enough for me, not good enough for the fans, not good enough for Gillingham.
“[It’s a] stark reminder of what job I’ve got to do here.
“That’s the worst performance by far, and I’m not surprised we’ve been beaten.
“It’s not good enough for me. It’s nowhere near my standard and the boys know that now.
“They knew it before, but they definitely know it now.
“None of us can hold our heads up high, me included. I’ll take the brunt of it, as always, but, yes, there’ll be some serious talks with the players when we go through that one.”
Ainsworth admitted they lost the physical battle against the visitors.
“Oldham won too many physical battles,” he said. “We didn’t win enough second balls.
“They were on the front foot in that first 20, got the two-goal lead and then I have to give credit to [the Gillingham players] a little bit because we did respond really well.
“That last 20 minutes of the first half is a good performance. That’s good enough. That’s what I want to see.
“[It was] fits and starts. When we tried to play out, we looked a little bit lost, which we haven’t done in training, and then when we went long, it was hopeful rather than purposeful, but we did play well in the last 20 minutes of the first half.”
The Gills didn’t get the goal they needed – a third game in succession that they have lost without scoring.
This one hurt more than the others, though.
Ainsworth added: “We were far short of the level. I didn’t see it coming, like I say.
“In training, they’ve been okay [and] we’ve got to give Oldham some credit. They put it on us, and in both boxes, they were better.
“We’ve got to move on now. We’ve got to make sure that next week we are far better than we were this week.
“I’ll pick the boys up. That’s my job.”
