Gillingham captain Max Ehmer’s reaction to a 2-0 defeat at Colchester United and playing AFC Wimbledon next on Monday

Gillingham return to action at Wimbledon on Monday night and the captain admits they owe their fans a performance.

A poor display at Colchester on Boxing Day resulted in a 2-0 defeat, with many of the travelling fans making it clear exactly what they thought of the performance.

Report: Colchester 2 Gillingham 0

Ehmer and his team clapped those fans behind the goal at the end but the skipper knew they’d been shortchanged.

Reacting to being booed off by many, Ehmer said: “We’re sorry we couldn’t give them what they paid for.

“They have every right to do that but as a group we take that to heart and we'll make sure we try and put it right for the following game.

“We owe the travelling fans a massive performance and we'll work our best to do that.

“At the end of the day, it wasn't good enough.

“We lacked control in the game, we didn't win enough second balls, we didn't win enough first balls. (It was) just an all-round poor day.

“It's something we need to learn from quickly because we seem to be too inconsistent.”

That inconsistency has plagued the side for much of the season. The Gills have won as many as they’ve lost so far, with nine wins and nine defeats.

They had gone into the Boxing Day match buoyed by a positive performance against Cheltenham Town in their previous outing, showing much more attacking intent, albeit only taking a point in a 2-2 draw. The Gills had won their two games before that.

“There were opportunities to gain control of the game and we didn't take those moments,” said the defender.

“We looked like we might be in the game and then we conceded a poor second goal.

“It's something we as a squad need to learn and there's a lot to learn in that squad. We work every day and it's our job to make sure