Manager Steve Evans was talking play-off potential again after a positive reaction to their midweek defeat at Wimbledon.

A clear the air team meeting on Wednesday was followed by a point at promotion chasing Portsmouth on Saturday, producing enough chances to have taken all three.

Evans had been fuming at that late defeat to Wimbledon on Tuesday night - angered by a poor opening half and a late goal - and wrote off their play-off chances in his post-match reaction to the press. Those comments were made out of frustration rather than belief.

Making the top six is still unlikely - they are eight points off the top six - but Saturday’s performance shows the management and players haven’t thrown in the towel. The Gills dominated the second half against Portsmouth but were unable to take their chances in a game that finished 1-1.

Evans said: “As disappointed as I was on Tuesday, when we got with the players in on Wednesday there was nothing but positivity in that meeting and we said ‘let’s let the frustration and hurt go and get ready for Portsmouth.

“I said the (play-off) chances are gone but they are never gone are they? They can be gone for a moment when you are chatting and you are really disappointed but when we play like that it shows we have good players and we have never hidden that. With that desire and that application we are capable of competing against the best.

“I think I said it's gone (the play-off chance was over) when I was at Rotherham and I think I said it at Crawley, I have said it a couple of times and we got promotion.

“We have a lot of football to be played yet. We will focus on Tuesday, let’s get a positive result then and take it onto Saturday, try and get a couple of back to backs (wins). If we can get two or three then we can jump five or six places.”

That has been Gillingham’s problem this season, putting a run of results together. One impressive performance or win is often followed by a setback.

Three league wins in a row took them up to 11th in early December but since then they’ve hovered around the middle of the division. They now face two home games in a week, playing MK Dons on Tuesday - a side a point and a place above them - before taking on eighth placed Ipswich Town.

“If you don’t have a level of consistency then you don’t get into that top group,” Evans said.

“If we had of got five more points from those two games (against Wimbledon and Portsmouth) we would be sitting three points away from the play-offs. What do we have to do? We have to play MK Dons and make that a positive and then we have Ipswich on Saturday and if we look after ourselves, we are five or six off the play-offs.”

Read more on the Gills;

Portsmouth reaction: 'We should have won'

Match report: Portsmouth 1 Gillingham 1