Shrewsbury boss Ricketts left frustrated by ‘rugby game’ against Gillingham

Shrewsbury boss Sam Ricketts admitted he felt sorry for paying fans after his side suffered a 2-0 defeat to Gillingham in what he called “a rugby game” at Priestfield.

Following the high of holding Premier League leaders Liverpool to a draw in the FA Cup on Sunday, the visitors were brought back down to earth by the Gills in their return to League One action.

First-half goals from Stuart O’Keefe and Olly Lee, who scored from the spot after new signing John Akinde was brought down by Ethan Ebanks-Landell, made it 10 league games unbeaten for the Gills.

But it was a night of frustration for Ricketts, who conceded that mistakes and tiredness from the effort put in against Liverpool played a part in his team’s lacklustre performance.

“I’m disappointed with the result,” he said. “We went from playing in a real football game on Sunday to a rugby game today. We’re not built for that but we could have handled it better.

“We started OK; the pitch didn’t allow us to pass the ball around but we couldn’t get our game flowing.

“The four or five actual passages of play where we passed the ball we pinned them back, hit the post and had one cleared off the line.

“I bet the ball wasn’t in play for more than 30 seconds at a time before a foul was being given. It was a bitty, scrappy, horrible game. I felt sorry for anybody who paid to watch that.

“We tried to freshen it up for tonight. It’s happened a few times this season and last that the players have put in an unbelievable effort in the cup and then struggled to match that in the following game.”

Josh Laurent and Shaun Whalley came closest for the visitors but Gillingham assistant manager Paul Raynor hailed his side’s defensive display after they bounced back from their 2-2 draw with Rochdale.

He said: “The game was scrappy for the opening 10 to 20 minutes but as soon as we got the first goal we really settled down. Once we doubled the lead it was comfortable and we defended well.

“They tried all sorts but we were back to the solid shape that we didn’t have at Rochdale on Saturday. I think they had one shot on target in the game which says a lot.”

On Akinde’s impact, he added: “He and Jordan Roberts up top were a real threat. Their physicality and pace frightened everybody to death tonight, which bodes well for us.

“We probably haven’t scored as many as we’d have liked this season and that’s what we’ve tried to add in the transfer window. They proved that they’re a threat, they complement each other well.”