‘Hopeless’ Gillingham frustrate boss Mark Bonner in home loss to Harrogate

Frustrated boss Mark Bonner said his Gillingham players were “hopeless” after their 2-1 home loss to Harrogate in Sky Bet League Two.

Timothy Dieng fired the Gills in front at Priestfield before Anthony O’Connor and Josh March secured Simon Weaver’s side back-to-back wins for the first time this season.

Bonner, whose side were booed off, said: “I thought we were a disgrace after we went ahead, if I’m brutally honest.

“There’s a pattern that’s emerged in the team where we go ahead and just throw games away.

“We’ve done it way too often. I think we’ve been ahead in four of our last six games and not taken anything from them.

“I think, just like everybody else in the stadium, I absolutely hated the last half hour. It was rubbish. We deserved to be booed off because that was miles off a good team.

“The personality of the team was hopeless, hopeless. We played defeated when we conceded. It’s just a pattern, we’ve got to change it.

“There’s got to be huge change because it happens too often.

“Hopefully the players feel miserable because everybody else here feels miserable about today.

“I hated everything about the end of the game. All of a sudden we had no-one to pass to. That is not the personality of the team we’re trying to build.

“We’ve got loads of work to do, loads of work for the players to do. It’s dangerous to tell the truth.”

As expected, Weaver was proud of his side after they battled the conditions to come away with three points.

He said: “I’m really delighted. We deserved the win.

“It was really tricky conditions out there, really wild. It was a swirling wind so it’s not always in your control. It’s the worst conditions to play in.

“The weather certainly changed the way the teams played, I think it would for any team.

“It was difficult to get the ball down and play. It was safety first because people were worried about making a mistake.

“It was a case of trying to force the opposition to make mistakes. You can say what you want about style of play and tactics but it was going to probably be the team who made mistakes who would lose.

“The lads relished the battle and I couldn’t be more proud of them.

“It was a typical Harrogate performance of old, showing real battling qualities. I’m really proud for the last couple of weeks.

“The reaction to conceding shortly after half-time was a delight. We probably played to a better level after we conceded.”