Gillingham 0 Tranmere Rovers 2

GILLINGHAM are still searching for their first point and first goal of the season but manager Ronnie Jepson is remaining up-beat.

The Gills boss saw his side lose 2-0 to Tranmere at Priestfield on Saturday – the club's third straight loss.

"The lads kept going at it and we had chances but at the moment the chances aren’t going in the net," said Jepson. "We’ve got to stick with it, the lads aren’t feeling sorry for themselves. We’ll re-group and hopefully will come back stronger.

"We started off very nervous and a bit lacklustre. We were a yard short at times and waiting for things to happen rather than making them happen. We lost too many 50-50s in key areas of the pitch.

"Second half we re-jigged a bit and had a couple of good opportunities but the second goal absolutely killed us and it was a bad goal to concede."

The visitors had taken the lead in the 20th minute when a fine move involving Chris Greenacre and Chris Shuker ended with Greenacre heading clinically past Gills keeper Simon Royce.

The second came five minutes after the restart when Steve Davies cut inside his marker before hitting a low shot past Royce.

The home side struggled to create clear-cut chances. The closest they came was a David Graham effort from close range that clipped the bar on its way over.

Gillingham: Royce, Southall, Cox, King, Armstrong (Pugh 74), Bentley, Lomas, Crofts, Brown, Facey, Graham.
Subs Not Used: Stillie, Clohessy, Cogan, Stone.
Attendance: 5,302.

* For all the action and reaction from Priestfield see Monday's Medway Messenger.