Gillingham got their rewards for a hard-working performance on Saturday.

Boss Steve Evans admitted they didn’t have enough quality on the day at the top end but was pleased with the effort shown at Fratton Park.

“The boys worked incredibly hard all week,” Evans said.

“Our first half at Oxford was a shambles and we don’t hide behind it, I apologised, it was my team.

"It was my team out there Saturday after two weeks of hard work. If they keep working as hard as that they will get their rewards.

“The only thing that disappointed me was that when we did get into the attacking areas we took a touch too much or didn’t play that one-two as sweet as we should have done or as we have worked on, but they are good players and they are young players.

“We had a 10-15 minute period where we were by far the better team, playing quick counter-attacking football and gave them a real problem but we just didn’t either have the final ball, that bit of luck on the day or ability to get past someone.

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“But I said to the players we will continue to work hard. Anyone that plays against us should have to earn what they get.”

Just over 18,000 fans were at Portsmouth, a club where expectations are high, but they continue to languish in the bottom half of League 1.

“You can understand why they are demanding to be playing at a higher level,” Evans said.

“The atmosphere was so good, they are a 12th man, for sure, so credit to our players.

“After Oxford (a 3-0 defeat) you almost have to say to them what is acceptable and what is not but to a man they have worked hard against a good team.”

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