Gareth Ainsworth reeled off a list of missing players who might have made the difference after Gillingham’s heavy defeat on Tuesday night.
The Gills were second best to Milton Keynes Dons in every department as they succumbed to a 5-1 home defeat at Priestfield.
“Not good enough, again,” Ainsworth said. “Obviously, we’ve been beaten 5-1, and it’s just moments of bad defending, bad decisions, naivety.
“I have an extremely big injury list at the moment. You look through it, and the names that are in that treatment room, they start for me. They’re the ones who’ve been starting at the start of the season. They were the ones who were doing it.
“It’s crazy how we’re losing players at the moment.
“I’m hopeful that Ethan Coleman [who was injured on Tuesday] isn’t too bad. I can’t do it with any more injuries. I’m putting a youth team player on for his league debut. It’s hard to take.
“When you’re missing players like Beckles, Gale, Masterson, Little, Dack, McKenzie, Antwi, McCleary, Josh Andrews. There’s a whole team there that you could say would start a game. When your best players are not available, teams do struggle. We certainly struggled.”
The Gills did have their chances too, but MK made theirs count, and the league’s top scorers were ruthless, scoring three times in the opening half and also hitting the woodwork.
MK scored twice more after the break, either side of a Seb Palmer-Houlden goal, but threatened to add more to their tally late on as the Gills struggled.
“Half-time was the one where I showed the frustration,” said Ainsworth, who had walked off to a volley of criticism from home fans at the interval.
“It was just not good enough. The fans were vocally showing their disgust at that performance. I agree. Some of the defending was chaotic.
“MK didn’t tear us apart. There were no six or seven-pass moves. It was like two or three passes, and they’re in. It was mistakes, and they’re in. We can’t do that.
“We constantly did it. We tried to keep the ball at the wrong times, play out at the wrong times and then play longer at the wrong times. Until Sam Vokes came on in the second half. He held up a little bit and I’m pleased for Seb [to score].”
Vokes came on for Ronan Hale, in a move that was also criticised by fans, but Ainsworth explained why he took the lively front-man off.
He said: “I took Ronan off because he was on a yellow card. At 4-0 down, you’re looking at Saturday’s game, and when everyone’s singing about my substitutions, there are always plans in that as well.
“[Youth player] Michael Luxton came on at the end there. That was probably one of the few bright sparks. I thought he did well. He got stuck in, and for an 18-year-old boy to come into that situation. Well done, Luxt. There’s plenty more to come.
“I’m sure he’s going to be a good player so that the future is bright, but the present is not too bright today.
“People said to me after the game, ‘That didn’t go to plan, really did it? I said, ‘You know what? If you look at the teams that were put out there, it was always going to be a tough ask.
“This is a super powerful MK Dons side, spent millions of pounds. I believe they will be promoted if not as champions, be very close to the champions.
“I think the possession was in our favour. We probably put more passes together than MK. We had as many shots, I think, as many on target, but ours just didn’t count.
“Ours were not as clinical as they were, but that’s what you get when you buy players, and they have, they’ve openly said they’re going for it. They’ve spent a heck of a lot of money trying to go for it.
“It’s not a nice place at the end when the fans are booing, and they’re all asking for answers, and I understand that.
“I’ll take the result, I’ll take the loss, and it’s up to me to try and put it right.
“But, I do say it’s quite difficult when you haven’t got the tools in front of you, and some of your best tools are in the medical room.
“But, they’re all professional footballers. They need to know that was poor, there were one or two bright spots, definitely, it’s not everyone, but there are some fundamental errors there for goals, and I’ve got to put it right.
“I’ve got to make sure that we know what went wrong and why it went wrong.
“It’s not as though we didn’t point out what the strengths were of MK Dons, and lo and behold, they showed us.
“But these boys will give everything, and they’re a good bunch. There are no bad eggs in there. There’s nobody who just gives up and doesn’t give everything.
“They all fight, and they all scrap. If their levels aren’t good enough, that’s not their fault. They can get to a certain level, and MK Dons can get to a higher level. That’s not their fault. They’re giving everything.”
