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Gillingham manager Neil Harris admitted to feeling hard done by after missing out on all three points against Grimsby Town.
A tight offside decision denied Mikael Mandron an injury-time winner and prior to that the striker had also seen a headed goal from a corner disallowed for a foul inside the box - one Harris certainly didn’t agree with.
Report: Grimsby 1 Gillingham 1
Gillingham had to settle for a point, following a 1-1 draw, with Mandron levelling after Ryan Taylor had scored a scrappy early opener.
Reacting to Mandron’s first disallowed effort, Harris said: “The referee made it up as he went along, when I spoke to him at half-time. He said it was a foul and I asked by who and he said our number five, which was Max. I said on what player and he said ‘their player’. Was it the goalkeeper? He said 'no'. That makes no sense because Max was (marking) the goalkeeper so it couldn’t have been a foul. There was no foul, absolutely no foul. That spoilt that one.
“We think the second might have just been offside, that is the general consensus. The fact that in the 93rd minute we are getting into good areas, three times from the 90th minute, that shows we were playing to win the game for the fans that travelled.
“I am a little disappointed we didn’t win the game and that is a good position to be in as an away team manager, delighted with the amount of good positions we got into and some of the chances we created. We are obviously extremely disappointed with the goal conceded, it was avoidable, but it was another step in the right direction and what we have to do is to now transform these draws into wins.”
It was an open game at Blundell Park, with the Gills making a slow start. Glenn Morris failed to hold onto an early shot which gave Taylor the chance to score. Mandron then levelled after hooking the ball home following a corner.
Both teams went for the win and the Gills created plenty of their own opportunities.
“It was very open,” said the Gills boss. “I don’t think anyone would begrudge paying their money to watch that.
“It was end to end and that comes from both teams playing a lot of attacking players. If you are going to play four attacking players then I have to expect we are going to give a bit of defensive frailty to the opponent at times.
“I thought we got into some really good areas, had quality to get into the final third, we looked at our worst when we turned the ball over cheaply, it is an area we can be better on to make sure we don’t give the opponent the opportunity to counter attack on us. Overall it is probably a bit of disappointment we didn’t win the game.
“Do I feel a little hard done by? With two goals disallowed, yes I do feel a little hard done by.”