Gills boss Andy Hessenthaler has criticised his players after they threw away a two-goal lead to lose 4-3 against AFC Wimbledon.

It had all started so brightly for Gillingham when Gavin Tomlin scored on his home debut in the fourth minute and the home side seemed to be coasting when Jo Kuffour made it 2-0 shortly after the break.

Despite former Ebbsfleet striker Luke Moore pulling a goal back on the hour, Gillingham restored their two goal lead when Tomlin headed home his second of the afternoon just minutes later.

What came next will be hard to swallow for Gillingham fans with Jack Payne scoring an own goal from a corner, Jack Midson scored from the spot after Matt Lawrence conceded a soft penalty and Midson’s deflected strike in the 89th minute won it for the Dons.

Gillingham’s defeat, their fourth in their last five games sees them drop out of the play-off places and left Hessenthaler threatening to drop his entire back four:

“There’s no excuses, that wasn’t good enough,” he said. “At 3-1 we should have seen the game out but not even schoolboys would have defended like we did.”

“We switched off, we weren’t organised and people made the wrong decisions defensively. Hand on heart, at 3-3 I thought we were going to lose the game. We just didn’t look like we were together at that point.”

Where it all went wrong will give Hessenthaler a few sleepless nights, but he still harbours some hope that all is not lost as Gillingham sit eighth in League Two:

“We’ve got 20 games to go, we’re just outside the play-offs. Can we get in the top three? Not on those last two performances. It’s time for me as a manager to do something.”

“It’s time for a few home truths and I’ve got to change things around. I’ll put the kids in because they can defend better than we did in this game.” he said to the club’s official website.

Hessenthaler has already started that process by confirming that he will recall Connor Essam from his loan spell at Dartford.

With Andy Frampton missing Saturday’s game with a hamstring injury and Simon King waiting in the wings, there could well be wholesale changes for the trip to Accrington Stanley next weekend.

Picture by Jack Gracie