Gillingham manager Neil Harris keeps the teacups in one piece despite poor first half against Barrow

Neil Harris decided against tearing into his Gillingham players at the break on Saturday.

The Gills boss made himself heard on the touchline during a poor first half that saw visitors Barrow take a deserved lead.

It was the worst Harris’ side have played for a long time but he played it cool at the interval and saw his side fight back for a 1-1 draw, extending their unbeaten run to seven games in league and cup.

“Do you know what? I was very calm,” said Harris.

“I was disappointed but I think we finished the last 10 minutes of the first half really strongly and if we’d used the ball slightly better in the penalty area we could have equalised.

“That gave us a little bit of impetus.

“You’ve got 10/12 minutes at half-time but the players can’t concentrate for that period so I’ve got a small window at half-time to get into their heads.

"I was calm, I adjusted the shape in midfield slightly and made the sub (Lewis Walker replacing Mikael Mandron).

“Sometimes you have to throw the teacups, so to speak, and sometimes you have to be calm and methodical. I went with the second option.

“It’s about knowing your players and who responds to what.

“Some now and again need a little rocket, it doesn’t have to be half-time or after a game, sometimes it can be on the training pitch, sometimes it can be in the office, one-to-one, like any boss would talk to his staff.

“What I do know is I’ve got good lads, a good group, an honest group that want to be here, want to train and want to be better, and that’s a big thing for me.

“If we’re not very good it’s because it’s just where we are at the moment, where the budget allows us to be.

“We do have a big range in players, from a lot of senior players over 30, and we’ve got some younger ones as