Manager Gareth Ainsworth was focusing on Gillingham’s positive performance rather than the defensive errors that left them pointless on Tuesday night.
Ainsworth admitted there was a big mistake which led to Swindon’s opener and the visitors hit a second goal late on to win 2-0.
Report: Gillingham 0 Swindon 2
The Gills had 20 efforts at goal but weren’t able to make it count.
“How we haven’t taken something from that game is amazing,” said the Gills boss.
“We were definitely the dominant team and [I don’t know] how some of those shots haven’t gone in. The keepers made a worldly save in the first half from a corner, and the one where Ronan (Hale’s) on the line, scrambling to get it, I don’t know how that stayed out.
“[There were] two moments where we’ve got to defend better, right? I’ll pick those moments out, they will be dealt with, and those people will be told.”
Swindon took a 68th-minute lead when a long ball from their goalkeeper wasn’t dealt with by the Gills and Aaron Drinan pounced.
“The boy’s a clinical striker,” Ainsworth said. “He’s scored a lot of goals this season and you’ve got to give him credit for it.
“But there’s a big mistake. Two of us going for the same ball and that can’t happen. You just can’t do that. We don’t coach that.
“Contrary to what fans might think, we coach covering each other and one going for the ball. For some reason, two have gone for the same ball, left the man and that man goes and scores.
“That happens sometimes but the performance, for me, is the big positive and that’s what I’ll focus on. If we do that again on Saturday, it will be more than enough.
“Of course I’m disappointed to lose, but performance is always my bag. Always will be.
“I’m just gutted for the boys because they’ve given everything and unfortunately, we came away with nothing.”
The Gills have been booed off in recent games but fans appreciated the effort this time around, even if their team lost again.
“I think the applause drowned out the one or two boos at the end,” said the manager. “I think there was an attempt to start, and then they’re thinking, ‘You know what, we’ve done everything we can except score a goal’.
The performance was a big improvement from a rock-bottom display at Cambridge United on the Saturday when they came away with a 5-0 hiding. Last time out at Priestfield, the Gills lost 5-1 to MK Dons.
Ainsworth said: “[The performance was] a million miles away from the last two games. That is because I think the more established players are back, we’re not so young, we’re not so naive. That’s what you get.
“The performances [in the previous two] have been way off. Nowhere near good enough. We had some real serious chats with the boys. We’ve had some sit-downs. I had a real big meeting on Monday, going through the video from Saturday. Believe me, I don’t want to do that again.
“My Mother’s Day was taken with watching the [Cambridge] game back, picking out the clips, thinking how horrendous we were and then showing it to the boys on Monday, which they’ve got a take on the chin, this is football.
“You don’t make mistakes and get away with it. I need to pull [them] on that. I’ll be pulling them up on the goals [conceded on Tuesday], definitely, because that moment has killed us.
“This should be a nil-nil where we’ve gone, ‘How have we not scored? How have we not got anything out of this game?’ I think the fans know that. They were great.
“They really got behind us, and to lose 2-0 at home to Swindon, I think is probably a disappointing result for everyone, but the fact that the fans were there at the end and clapping us off and understanding this place is going through some serious transition.
“I said, ‘Judge me next year,’ and I’ll stick by that. That was good enough performance-wise.”
For Swindon, it ended a long wait for a win at Priestfield. It was their first win in Gillingham since December 1986, ending a 13-game unbeaten streak for the Gills in this particular fixture.
Swindon completed a double this season after also winning 2-0 at the County Ground on New Year’s Day.
Ainsworth said: “One of the Swindon players said to me, ‘You’re the best team that we’ve played at home, and how you didn’t get something [from this game] is amazing. That’s a compliment, but it’s easy to say when you’ve won a game.
“We have to stop conceding because they kill us. But that is a million miles from Saturday.
“Saturday, it looked like [Cambridge] were going to score freely against us. I think Swindon have had two shots on target and scored two goals and that’s a killer.”
