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Gillingham manager Steve Evans wasn’t impressed that he was forced into a half-time rant at Dover.
His players were off the pace in the opening half at Crabble, trailing 1-0 at the break against Andy Hessenthaler’s non-league side.
The Gills responded, however, and two quickfire goals got them back infront, only to concede again as the match ended level.
“We were poor first half,” said Evans, who watched the first 45 minutes from the stands.
“We were very good in spells second half but we shouldn’t need to have to go in the (changing rooms) and liven some people up to have a reaction to play football.
“I think some of them thought they played well at the weekend and then thought it would be easy at Dover but we saw how difficult it could be.
“Andy (Hessenthaler) is an experienced manager and has some good players. He probably thought at half-time it might be three or four because some of ours were in their sleeping bags.
“We had to have some strong words at half-time.”
Evans didn’t make any substitutions in the match, as was the plan from the outset, but admitted he was close to making “seven or eight” at the break such was his disappointment.
He returned to the sidelines to watch the second half and was much more impressed.
He said: “We were dominant second half got two and could have had more, but we gave away the ball cheaply.
“I was delighted with the 35-40 minutes of the second half, not delighted with the goal, Ndjoli gives it away cheap and we get punished. We got counter attacked and the boy finished it reasonably well.
“When we went on that dominant spell we should have put it to bed.
“The boys knew the first half wasn’t acceptable. The second we praised them for their endeavours and for some it was their first 90 minutes.
“With 12 days to go there is lots and lots of time to work hard and we need to work hard on the training ground. We will get freshened up on Wednesday and get ready for the weekend.”
