Manager Mark Bonner admitted his Gillingham team deserved to be booed off after losing to Harrogate Town.

The Gills were a goal up early in the second half but were beaten 2-1 - the third time they’d lost a game in recent weeks after taking the lead.

Bonner said: “We were a disgrace when we went ahead, to be honest.

“I thought the first half was exactly what the game could have been and we had decent enough control of it without threatening too much.

“We started the second half well, got ourselves ahead, had two good moments after that. From that point on, there's a pattern that emerges in the team: we go ahead and throw games away. We've done it way too often.”

Harrogate goals on 59 and 71 minutes cancelled out Tim Dieng’s opener and the Gills found no way of getting back into the game. Josh Andrews had a gift of a chance to level but fired over.

Bonner said: “Probably a bit like everybody else in the stadium, I absolutely hated the last half hour, it was as rubbish as everyone thought.

“We deserve to be booed off because that is miles off a good team there.

“After the first (goal) we had a good moment where Max (Ehmer) needs to slide (the ball) across the box and we maybe get a tap-in and we don't use that.

“Nev hits the outside of the post, so we had a bit of momentum off the back of that, and the goal was a good one.

“It was probably always going to be a bit of a set-play type day, because it was tricky in terms of conditions to play in. You always think the first goal could be important but personally, the team was hopeless in the end. (The) body language, (they) played defeated once we conceded.

“It's just a pattern, it's emerged time and time again. We've got to change it, there needs to be huge change because it happens too often.

“I hated everything about the end of the game and we have a good chance, Josh should take the chance at the end and then we get a point out of the game. You'd be relieved with a point out of the game. If it ends up level, no-one really says a thing about it.

“You'd still say it was a performance that we didn't like in lots of the second half and I think that's the pattern bit for me that I just really disliked.

“How lacking in aggression we were, how lacking in intent we were to try and make something happen, how very few players were available for the ball, how our retention of the ball in the second half became kick, rush, all of a sudden no-one to pass to, whereas when we're on top and we're in the balance and we've got some momentum it looks like there is.

“That is not the personality of a team that we should be trying to build.”

It could have been a different game had the Gills got a 15th-minute penalty that Bonner felt they deserved. Marcus Wyllie went to ground in the box.

“I thought the ref was almost as bad as us,” said the Gills boss.

“You need those moments. I thought it was a penalty.

“He (also) gives a foul against George Lapslie in the second half.

“You just think, ‘that's nuts’. It's absolutely mental some of the decisions that go against you.

“They're just moments that could maybe turn it. It's an absolute nailed on corner for us at 2-1 and it's a goal kick given.

“That's not why we lose but scoring a penalty in the first half might have made a big difference. When you've got those tiny bits of momentum, it can make a difference.”