Gillingham manager Gareth Ainsworth on penalty misses and a win at Bristol Rovers on Saturday as Max Clark comes good

Gillingham manager Gareth Ainsworth says they’ll be working hard on making sure they make the penalties count.

The Gills have failed to convert from the spot in each of their last two league games, and between those matches they went out of the FA Cup in a penalty shootout.

Ainsworth said: “I think the penalties this season have been a bit of a pain, haven't they?

“We need to make sure we stick these in because they're gifts at the right time. We'll work on them.

“The penalty was deserved [on Saturday, after a foul in the box on Sam Gale]. I've looked at it and it's a definite pen. We just have to stick that in.”

The usually reliable Clark had his penalty saved, as Bradley Dack did in the league game against Salford City.

It came a week after their penalty shootout loss at Newport. Clark scored the first on that occasion, but Remeao Hutton had an effort saved, and Sam Vokes hit the bar. Nelson Khumbeni and Seb Palmer-Houlden converted, but it wasn’t enough.

The Gills have been awarded more penalties than any team in League 2 - scoring four of the six given.

Little scored two of them in one game, in a 4-1 win over Chesterfield, Clark netted a last-gasp equaliser from the spot at Bromley and Dack scored from 12 yards in the league game at Newport as the Gills came from behind to win 3-1.

Earlier in the season, the Gills had been beaten 4-2 on penalties by AFC Wimbledon in the League Cup, after a 1-1 draw. Clark and Robbie McKenzie converted that night, but efforts from Jonny Williams and Josh Andrews had shots saved.

The weekend miss didn’t matter in the end, with Clark making amends with a super strike to win the game, but Ainsworth hopes they start making the most of their penalty opportunities from now on.

“His goal was