Gills boss Andy Hessenthaler admitted he couldn’t fault his sides’ effort after a draw at Northampton ended their play-off hopes.

Jo Kuffour’s second half strike was enough to earn a point at the Sixfields Stadium after debutant Lewis Wilson had scored for the Cobblers in the first half, but it left Gillingham four points adrift of the play-offs with just one game left to play.

Having seen his side throw everything they had at a determined Northampton defence, Hessenthaler admitted he couldn’t have asked for any more:

“I couldn’t fault the lads’ efforts in this game, the conditions were difficult and we went 1-0 down to a sloppy goal that came when we switched off.”

“We knew they would get it from back to front very quickly and we knew it would be like that so we should have had a better mentality in terms of dealing with that.”

“We had a right go at them in the second half and we tried and tried to get the winner but we were just a bit unlucky.”

“They cleared one off the line as well and we could have won it but we’ve just missed out in the end.”

So, Hessenthaler has just one more week of the season to endure before deciding on the futures of some players ahead of next season.

He may well be tempted to have a look at some youngsters for the final game against Morecambe at Priestfield with seventeen players out of contract this summer.