Gillingham manager Justin Edinburgh has branded his side’s performance as totally unacceptable after being knocked out of the FA Cup at Brackley Town.

It was a case of history repeating itself as once again the Kent side were knocked out of the cup by the non league outfit, three years on from the 2013 defeat.

Having seen his side battle back from 2-0 down to take the game into extra time, The Gills were to trail 4-2 before pulling a goal back late on, but it mattered not and Edinburgh was deflated at the full-time whistle:

“It’s hugely disappointing. Brackley deserved to win; once again we were the creators of our own downfall. They didn’t have to work hard for their goals.”

“The turning point for me is that the full-time whistle probably came too soon, but that’s neither here nor there. We had another half-hour to go and win the game, and we did the opposite.”

“I don’t take any positives out of tonight whatsoever. Before they scored their first I didn’t think there was any difference in the sides.”

“But fair play to Brackley. It’s not easy to take, but it’s hurting me. We’re all in it together. There’s a lot to reflect upon and there’s a lot to ponder. I feel totally let down. It’s so, so frustrating.”

“To have two goes at it, and to come back from two-nil down, it’s unacceptable. You don’t often get too many bites of the cherry.”

Brackley’s four goals all proved to be soft and Edinburgh was left to reflect on a number of individual errors:

“Everybody’s aware of their roles and responsibilities, but one ball into the box, a header down and it’s a goal.”

“I can’t go out and make people physically mark their man. Somebody has fallen short of their responsibilities.”

“Another ball goes into the box and it’s 2-0. We’ve got back into the game, and I felt only one team was going to win it, but for all the pressure we had, the ball perhaps didn’t fall to us.”

“If you concede six goals against a team three divisions lower, then you don’t deserve to go through the cup tie.”

Gillingham now face a few days of reflecting before Saturday’s League One clash against Walsall and Edinburgh wants the players to think long and hard:

“There’s got to be a lot of soul-searching ahead of Walsall. There’s got to be character and desire on the pitch on Saturday if we’re to get anything out of the game.”