Gillingham manager Neil Harris has spoken of his pride at the way his side ran Wolverhampton Wanderers close, but ultimately bowed out of the Carabao Cup.

Buoyed by the support of over 1300 travelling fans, The Gills made the Premier League side work hard to book their place in the Quarter Finals and had kept the game goalless for over seventy five minutes.

In the end, the home side scored two late goals to deny a Gillingham side that’s been plagued by a bug in the camp for the past 48 hours including Harris who travelled up in his own car to avoid contact with his players.

Having been only able to name five substitutes, it was always going to be a tall order for a Gillingham side that went into the game sitting bottom of the Football League, but Harris was proud with how his patched up side ran the Premier League opposition close:

“I’m proud of my players,” Harris said. “It’s been a tough 48 hours for us. We’ve got a problem in the camp, as you can tell by my voice. That’s why we only had four (outfield) subs tonight.”

“We dug in. The game went as we expected and we were forced into a back five, or even back six, at times.”

“They had the ball but we forced them around us with our disciplined shape. They found it difficult to break us down and to lose the first goal as we did was frustrating. It was a very close call.”

“But on the balance of play, you can’t deny Wolves deserved to win the game.”

Harris will now hope a few days rest and spending time with their families for Christmas will mean the Gillingham squad will reassemble for the crucial Boxing Day clash with Colchester United free of bugs and fully rested.

If ever there were a game that Gillingham needed to win, this was it.

The two sides are staring relegation into the National League squarely in the face, although Gillingham fans will be heartened to hear the rumoured takeover by American Brad Galinson seems to be edging ever closer to completion.