Accrington 3 Gillingham 1: Gills boss Gareth Ainsworth’s reaction after League Two defeat at The Wham Stadium

Manager Gareth Ainsworth admitted that even he was surprised at how badly his Gillingham team performed on Saturday.

He branded their performance “not good enough by a long shot” after the Gills were beaten 3-1 at Accrington Stanley on Saturday.

Report: Accrington 3 Gillingham 1

The Gills boss admitted his side were second best in the League Two clash.

Ainsworth had kept the same team that thrashed Rotherham United 4-1 the previous weekend, but his players failed to reproduce that performance as Accrington dominated and could have won by more.

“We weren't good at all,” said the Gills boss. “I'll have to look into the reasons why that was. Firstly, I'll look at myself, the team selection and tactics that we employed, but we haven't changed really from the good run that we've been on.

“That performance surprised me. We looked out of sorts and I don't know why.”

“What I looked at was us losing duels, losing tackles, losing runs, losing headers, all the things, the fundamentals that you have to have in League Two.

“League Two is a game of transitions; they're putting us in behind, and then we're clearing, and then they're getting on the next one better than us.”

Gillingham went behind after just 11 minutes following a mix-up between goalkeeper Ollie Wright and midfielder Armani Little. As they dallied, Accrington pounced through Stefan Mols.

Their other two goals came from corners delivered by Mols and headed in by Josh Woods.

Gills’ goal came from Omar Beckles shot but even that went down as an own-goal as Ainsworth’s side finished the match without an effort on target.

Ainsworth said: “The first goal is a bit of a calamity and then the two [conceded from] corners [was] terrible marking from us.

“We've got to make sure