Midfielder Dean Parrett was glad to see Gillingham show they can compete with the best in League 1.

Peterborough returned to the top of the division with a 4-2 win over Gills on Saturday, but the visitors had to fight back from 2-1 down to take all three points.

“It was very, very frustrating,” said Parrett following a much-improved Gills showing.

“We played very well in spells, we just got caught out a couple of times on the counter.

“We have to take positives from it. They are a good team, they will probably be up there and we showed we could battle with the best teams.

“If we build on it and play like that every week then we will get results. If we can carry on putting in those performances, I am sure we will win games.”

The Gills looked to be heading for a positive result after coming back from a goal down to lead 2-1, but couldn’t hold on.

“We gave everything but it wasn’t enough,” said Parrett, who had a chance himself after the Gills had gone in front, only for the keeper to make a save.

“It’s a shame I didn’t shank it, it might have gone in. At 3-1 it is a lot more to hold on to. I'm gutted.

“I just wanted to try and add a bit of drive and run through the midfield, see if they wanted to defend. I got a little bit of joy.

“It is deflating when you concede the goals, we fought hard to come back. We started well second half and got the two goals.

"I felt like we didn’t get away from our game plan, we played the ball around as much as we could, got into good areas and created chances. That’s the main thing, we are creating chances again.

“We can build on it 100%.”

And despite extending their winless run to seven games in League 1, Parrett insists the mood in the camp is upbeat.

“It has to be,” he said.

“We can’t get too low on ourselves. Results aren’t going at the moment, maybe it is due to a little luck.

"We had three opportunities in a row first half and on another day one goes in, we take the lead.

“We know that now we have scored a couple of goals the gates will open, we will score goals.

"We have goals all the way through the team and we showed that with Mark Byrne and Callum Reilly getting on the scoresheet.

“We have shown we can battle with the best in this league. They are one of the best, we just have to take the positives from it.”