Gillingham came under fire for their performance last weekend against Scunthorpe.

And boss Peter Taylor is happy to take the flak if it means his players are left alone.

Taylor knows last weekend’s 3-0 home loss has left some supporters unhappy. The Gills visit Rochdale on Saturday looking to end a run of three straight league defeats.

“I understand supporters’ opinions,” said Taylor. “They pay hard-earned money to watch their team play and I understand that.

“They have to take it out on someone so I would prefer them to take it out on me rather than the players. We have a young squad and I don’t want the players to get hammered by the supporters. That will put them in a shell and I don’t want that.

“I want the players to fight back and have the backing of the supporters, and they can then show what they can do.”

Many of Taylor’s team are still in their early twenties and inconsistency is not unexpected.

What didn’t help last weekend was the dismissal of Gillingham skipper Doug Loft midway through the first half. He faces a three-game ban as well as being disciplined by the club.

“I understand supporters’ reaction 100%,” said Taylor.

“But I would like them to be realistic a bit because we did have someone sent-off (last weekend) after half an hour, an influential player for us, our captain.

“The first half an hour wasn’t that bad. It wasn’t what I wanted but it wasn’t that bad and their goalkeeper pulled off a wonderful save from Luke Norris’ header. We could have been two goals up – that’s the game."

“We can talk about bouncing back but we have to do it."