Second best

The manager himself received a tremendous ovation both before and after the game but that was no consolation as he reflected on Town's first reverse since November 26.

He said: "It was a desperately disappointing performance.

"We were unrecognisable from the team and the players who've worked so hard and played so well over the last couple of months. We were second best.

"You hope it's a one-off because it was on a par with some of our cup performances, like at Boston."

He acknowledged that too many players had fallen short of what was required and that such a scenario was always going to present a side with a tall order.

He said: "We had three or four players who were on their game today and the rest were a long way off it.

"You can't go into a game like that and we got what we deserved.

"We've done enough in training. No excuses. As I said, the bottom line is we were second best."

The manager was annoyed with the nature of the three goals conceded, the type of cheap goals the side had stopped shipping in the last couple of months.

He said: "We've given three really poor goals away, the kind of goals we haven't been conceding recently.

"We spoke at the start about keeping things tight and we just looked to have weathered an early period when they scored.

"The first goal's always important.

"We had some momentum going into the break but nothing sustainable and nothing that really pinned them back in their own half."

A knee injury saw skipper Sean O'Hanlon replaced at the interval, yet another headache for the manager to deal with.

He said: "We'll have to assess it. It's his knee and he's said he's felt it in the last few weeks."

Onuora felt debutant Paul Smith had done okay and hoped his experience would start to come to bear in coming weeks.

He said: "He's played in what was arguably our poorest performance since I took over.

"He's competitive, needs games and hopefully he will get stronger as he gets back to full training and matches under his belt."

Onuora confirmed after the game that a striker and a wide player remained high on his January shopping list and that depending on the nature of Sean O'Hanlon's injury, cover there could be another option.

He said: "We dust ourselves down, get back on the training field and we start again.

"Losing is part of football but we haven't lost in the right manner at Gillingham."