GILLINGHAM coach Steve Lovell says that his team’s goalless stalemate with Town on Saturday felt like a defeat for the home side.

Despite looking rampant in the opening stages, with striker Rory Donnelly striking the Swindon post with just a few minutes on the clock, the Gills eventually failed to find a way past Luke Williams’ men and were left to settle for a point.

With Wigan Athletic winning at Sheffield United, Justin Edinburgh’s side dropped down to fourth in the table and Lovell was in little doubt that frustration was the overriding emotion for his team when they reconvened post-match.

“Very disappointing and in the dressing room after, it was as if we’d lost the game,” said Lovell.

“It’s understandable when you have so much possession, so much of the game, and you don’t turn it into three points.

“First half, we started very well and created a number of good opportunities. (We) could have had a penalty; you get decisions like that and the game becomes easy for you.

“Rory’s hit the post when he’s gone through.

“He’s done everything right and I know it sounds bizarre but he said ‘it was going in and the wind just took it and hit the post’. Now, obviously, being a centre-forward, you make excuses like that but Rory’s such an honest fella.

“Things sometimes don’t go the way that you want them to go but we’ve got a great spirit and a great bunch of players, who kept going and kept going and kept going, and I thought it was just a matter of time before perhaps we (would) get another opportunity but it just didn’t quite fall to us.

“We haven’t scored all these goals in the last three or four months for a lack of quality – we’ve had quality in front of goal and we’ve scored some great goals.

“Sometimes, you have days where it doesn’t go for you. We’re disappointed. We’re very disappointed and it wouldn’t be right to walk away and not be disappointed.

“We’ve got a point, yeah, but we want to win games.”

Lovell also thought his team should have been awarded a penalty for Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill’s first-half challenge on Ryan Jackson in the area.

The Gillingham coach added: “I thought it was a definite (penalty) but we all do.

“Jacko; he says it was and again, he’s such an honest lad. He wouldn’t say otherwise but (some) decisions you get for you and decisions you don’t.”