Gillingham 2 Leyton Orient 0: Reaction from Neil Harris as League 2 match ends in bizarre circumstances

Gillingham manager Neil Harris made no apology for the surreal ending to Tuesday night’s game after a fantastic win over the league leaders.

The Gills beat champions-elect Leyton Orient 2-0 but the final 10 minutes was a non-event after the teams returned to the field following a 23 minute delay because of floodlight failure.

Before the game restarted the rest of the games in League 2 had finished, confirming promotion for Orient and guaranteeing safety from relegation for the Gills. The Gills played keep-ball, largely at walking pace until the final whistle, after the referee restarted the action in the 80th minute.

Harris said: “We have beaten the best team in the league 2-0 at home and for 80 minutes, even against 10 men, they make it difficult for you but we beat them. That is one part.

“Second part is finishing in surreal circumstances where we know we have stayed in the division as long as we don’t concede three goals, Orient know they are promoted. We have had a 25 minute break (after the floodlights went off) where the players are in their 43rd game of the season and everyone is fatigued.

“Nobody wants to go back onto the pitch but we have to finish the game, that’s the rules, nobody wants to get up at that tempo again because they are going to pull their hamstrings, or their calf, do their back in.

“We finished in bizarre circumstances, where the game is played at a lesser tempo. I don’t blame them (Orient) for not wanting to press, I don’t blame my players, there was certainly no message from me to say don’t attack and we did at times but the rules lent themselves to us finishing with the ball and Orient not wanting to move.

“They didn’t wan to damage their goal different and injure their players. Really