Gillingham manager Steve Evans defended assistant boss Paul Raynor following his red card during an explosive end to Saturday’s game.

Raynor was left on the floor after a coming together with the Shrewsbury substitute goalkeeper Harry Burgoyne. The row came after players from both teams had clashed. Gillingham's Dan Phillips and home player David Davis were sent off after both received second bookings in the match following a confrontation.

Shrewsbury manager Steve Cotterill strode towards Gills' boss Evans just before it all kicked off in the technical area. Cotterill said he was unhappy with his opposite number and Raynor for pointing out to the referee that he had not issued a red card to Davis, having booked him twice.

“I am appalled by the actions of some people in that video,” said Evans, who was confident that the FA will clear his right-hand man of any wrongdoing when they see the footage.

"Paul Raynor got a red card and it is absolutely nonsense, he gets floored by the substitute goalkeeper and he gets a red card! (The Shrewsbury substitute goalkeeper was also sent off) The video will clear that up and I think the head of security has already told the referee Paul Raynor was an innocent men in all of it.

“The events at the end have no place in football but we will let the FA have a look and see what action is taken.

“The ugly scenes at the end have no place in football have they?”

Evans had spoken positively about Cotterill in the build-up to Saturday’s game, and many times before that, but it didn’t stop the home boss from losing his cool.

“I think the video will show he caused a lot of it in the end,” Evans added. “One or two things happened in those last few seconds that shouldn’t have.”

Gillingham even lost valuable seconds to try and get an equaliser as referee Sam Allison ended the game early, as tempers flared.

“He blew up because he lost control didn’t he?” said Evans.

“Sam is normally a very competent referee but I think he had an absolute shocker. We will look back at the key incidents. There was one occasion where there was a bounce ball and it took him two and a half minutes to decide what was happening.”

More on the Gills;

'Kill the hate' says chairman Paul Scally

Boss frustrated after dominant first half

Report: Shrewsbury 2 Gillingham 1