Opposition view: Evans offers 'no excuses' but hits out at 'comments' made by Cobblers during defeat at PTS

Gillingham manager Steve Evans admitted his side had 'no excuses' after they were beaten 3-1 by the Cobblers during Tuesday's League One clash at the PTS.

The Gills boss felt his side 'dominated' the early exchanges but then struggled to respond after conceding a 'terrible' penalty on the half-hour mark.

Danny Rose was tripped and Sam Hoskins converted from 12 yards before Rose himself made it 2-0 only four minutes later.

Kyle Dempsey's free-kick halved the deficit on the brink of half-time but Alan Sheehan struck 90 seconds after the restart and Town then eased to victory.

"I thought we started the game well and from memory all of the play was in their half of the pitch," said Evans. "We were in the ascendency and had just started to get a grip on the game.

"But then we give away a terrible penalty. There's no reason to make that challenge and it's a penalty. I was a long way from it but it looked a penalty to me.

"For the second goal we looked all over the place defensively. It was a good free-kick to give us a lifeline at half-time but you can't start the second half by conceding a silly goal like we did.

"That makes it a lot more difficult against a team who fought really well for Keith. They gave everything but my job is to focus on us and we were way short, it's as simple as that.

"There's no excuses. It wasn't for a lack of effort but there was a lack of quality on a pitch that's not befitting of a league game. The players were saying it was like quicksand on the far side but we can't use it as an excuse. We got beat tonight and we have to live with it."

There were one or two flashpoints during the game with coaches from both teams squaring up to each other in the technical area.

"There were a few comments they made during the game," Evans added. "Not from Keith or his staff but we heard them and we'll put them to the back of our minds and see how those comments go later in the season.

"Teams are fighting for their lives and we knew if we scored first it would be a different type of game. You saw it when we were dominating the ball in the early parts of the game because they were very quiet.

"Suddenly they score and you hear five or six comments shouting for the ball, but we focus on ourselves and I'm disappointed in our play."