More on KentOnline
Gillingham boss Neil Harris was happy with a point against Barrow, admitting: “We weren’t very good today.”
Elkan Baggott’s 74th-minute header secured a 1-1 draw as Gills extended their unbeaten run to seven games in all competitions.
Glenn Morris’ second-half penalty save from Josh Kay, with Gills trailing 1-0, gave them the push they needed to get something out of the game.
They’ve dropped a place to 19th in League 2 but a point was a decent return in the circumstances.
“We have to be honest and open-eyed to it, we weren’t very good today,” said Harris. “Why, I don’t know.
“We didn’t start very well so we have to look, me and my staff, did we get it right in training this week?
“There was no lack of application from the players, we just didn’t start on the front foot like we have done in the majority of the games.
“Maybe it’s just a little gentle reminder for me that even though we’re seven games unbeaten (five in the league) we’re still a long way from the finished article, aren’t we? We can all see that.”
Kay gave Barrow a half-time lead but blew the chance to give them breathing space when his penalty was saved by Morris.
That was the turning point as far as Harris was concerned, with Gills desperately missing Shaun Williams’ influence.
The veteran midfielder injured his hamstring in Friday’s training session and is unlikely to feature at Leyton Orient on Tuesday night, either.
“It was a tough watch, I’ve got to be honest,” said Harris.
“First 33 minutes, to be precise, I thought we were really poor.
“We didn’t take care of the ball, every second ball fell to them, they looked like they played on the front foot.
“They looked like they watched our game against Stevenage last week and saw how good we were for spells of that and came and competed with us, and we didn't reach the same standards.
“We lost Shaun Williams right at the end of the training session yesterday and we looked like a team who missed Shaun Williams in the first half in particular.
“We adjusted at half-time, not so much with Lewis (Walker) coming on for Mika (Mandron), we just adjusted shape slightly to give us a foothold and get around second balls, and even then we weren’t great at the start of the second half, I’ve got to be honest.
“The game for me really changed on the penalty save.
“Until that, Barrow were better than us for 60 minutes, Glenn makes the save and I thought sparked us, which then sparked the crowd a little bit and sometimes you have to accept you played poorly but you take your point and move on.”