Gillingham kept believing on Tuesday and were rewarded with a late equaliser.

Tom Eaves headed home to earn a point for the Gills against Blackpool.

The players’ positive attitude delighted boss Steve Lovell.

He said: “It is about keeping everyone positive.

“It is a natural thing that when you are losing. it is so easy to have your head down and think it’s the end of the world, but it’s not.

Report: Blackpool 1 Gillingham 1

“You have to keep believing and that is what gave me a lot of pleasure in the second half.

“Sometimes you go in at half time and you are 1-0 down and everyone is doom and gloom. I told them I am positive, we have to be positive.

“It’s natural to feel like that when you are 1-0 down but it’s only one goal. The next goal in the second half is so important, as it proved to be.”

Lovell switched formations in the second half, from a four-man defence to wing-backs, a move which stemmed the attacking threat from the hosts, who had taken a 42nd-minute lead.

“Sometimes you have to take a gamble,” Lovell said.

“It could have gone the other way and they could have scored two or three, but they never looked like it, so that’s the reason we went three at the back.”

The manager added: “Their goal was a good finish but we were unlucky because Gabs (Zakuani) blocked it with his head, he fell down and the fella finished it well.

“We had to keep believing. The spirit is great in the camp, the boys are brilliant, they work hard and you could see how much it meant to them to get that point

“The second half was excellent. We changed it up (formation-wise). I felt we had to have a go. We were 1-0 down.

“We created chances in the first half but we allowed them too much space with their wide players.

“We went to a three at the back, pushed on, and it worked. I think we played a lot better second half and I think we controlled it, apart from one or two little efforts that they had.

“We had a lot more chances second half and could have won the game in the end.”