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Gillingham manager Steve Evans acutely aware of side's weaknesses as players fail to reproduce training-ground displays when it matters

Gillingham boss Steve Evans doesn’t need telling where his team have to improve.

A lack of end product is hindering their hopes of pulling clear from the bottom half of the League 1 table.

Boss Steve Evans ponders Gillingham's display on Saturday Picture: Ady Kerry
Boss Steve Evans ponders Gillingham's display on Saturday Picture: Ady Kerry

Evans’ side were once again left to rue missed chances as they went down to a 3-0 defeat at home to Rotherham on Saturday.

Evans said: “We had chances and we should have scored.

“Alex (Jakubiak) had been super in training all week with his finishing and that’s why we selected him but it is not about what you do in training, it is what you do in games.

“We know our deficiencies, nobody has to come and tell me. My eyes are not pickled onions, some people think they are but they are not.

“We have had experience over many years and I could swap three or four of ours for theirs and we win the game comfortably. We have a lot of it right but not at the key end of the pitch.”

He added: “I blame lack of awareness, lack of concentration, lack of doing the right things in the right areas.

“We have dominated the second half. They have got blocks in at key times.

“They pick someone out and they score, we pick someone out and it gets cleared. They are big moments.”

The Gills were denied by on-loan Leicester keeper Daniel Iversen late on, saving from Mark Byrne with 11 minutes left.

Evans said: “Iversen is top class and we tried to get him but I was told there would be no decision until later in the transfer window and they said he would be going local so we respected Leicester City’s decision.”

The Gills boss will be hoping hard work pays off.

He said: “We will get back on the training pitch. We let ourselves down in key areas. If we do that, we lose a lot of games.

“The boys have been terrific, they went to Accrington the previous week and defended for their lives.

“We had more entries into the final third in the second half than we have had in any home game this season but you need to get the quality out of the bag and produce it.”

The Gills don’t have it any easier this weekend, heading to Sunderland in the FA Cup first round.

“Sunderland will be tough,” said Evans. “It would have been tough even if we had won.

"It is a different game, a different competition and we will have different personnel. We will make changes.”

Read more: All the latest sports news in Kent

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