Gillingham manager Steve Evans has said that he felt that his side were the better team in their 2-1 defeat to Peterborough United on Saturday afternoon.
A stunning strike from Joe Ward and a second-half penalty from Mo Eisa were enough for Peterborough United to secure another three points as they continue to close in on the top of the League One table. A late goal from substitute Mikael Mandron pulled Gillingham back into the game but they were unable to pull anything back from the game.
The win sees Posh climb to 3rd in the table, leaving them three points behind league leaders Ipswich, while Gillingham sit in 16th place, two points clear of the relegation zone. Now, Gills boss Steve Evans has been speaking about the game (quotes via the Peterborough Telegraph), saying that he believes his side were the better team and that the loss is a tough one to take. He said:
“I don’t need to tell an experienced and good manager like Darren Ferguson that he has been fortunate. I think in every area, if you look at the stats, we were by far the better team. We had 16-17 efforts on goal and five or six on target. Several of our off-target shots should have been on target as well.
“We were on top in the first half. They started brightly for 10 minutes, but our young full-back slips and that allows Joe Ward to come inside and we know Joe, we know what he is capable of. He is a brilliant young man. He puts it into the stanchion and we have to take that.
“At half-time, we said: ‘let’s be in the game on 70 minutes,’ and put the pressure on Peterborough, they are the ones fighting to be in that top group.
“But we gave away a clear penalty by someone putting his hands up in the penalty area, something I wouldn’t expect a 10-year-old to do. The referee saw it which was a shame because it was about all he did see all afternoon.
“They were then comfortable for 10 minutes, but we made some subs, changed the shape and then really took it to them We got a goal back and how we have not scored from three or four half-chances after that is beyond me. We certainly should have scored with a free header from a corner and if that goes in I fancy we win the game.
“Our goalkeeper summed it up, saying ‘I have been beaten by a wonder strike and a penalty and I haven’t had another save to make’. That makes it tough to take. But good luck to Peterborough. I hope they go up and they can rest assured we will give all the other promotion challengers as hard a game as we gave them.”
