Gillingham manager Steve Evans made no excuses for his side’s poor performance after their 3-1 defeat at struggling Northampton

Two goals in four first-half minutes put the Cobblers in control as Sam Hoskins converted from the penalty spot and then Danny Rose was on hand to poke in his third league goal of the season.

Kyle Dempsey’s free-kick gave Gillingham hope late in the first half but Alan Sheehan scored his first Northampton goal early in the second period and that effectively ended the contest.

“I thought we started the game well and from memory, all of the play was in their half of the pitch,” said Evans.

“We were in the ascendency and just started to get a grip on the game.

“But then we give away a terrible penalty. There’s no reason to make that challenge and it’s a penalty. I was a long way from it but it looked a penalty to me.

“For the second goal we looked all over the place defensively. It was a good free-kick to give us a lifeline at half-time but you can’t start the second half by conceding a silly goal like we did.

“That makes it a lot more difficult against a team who fought really well for their manager. They gave everything but my job is to focus on us and we were way short, it’s as simple as that.

“There’s no excuses. It wasn’t for a lack of effort but there was a lack of quality on a pitch that’s not befitting of a league game.”

Keith Curle was delighted as his side snapped their four-game losing run to move out of the relegation zone.

“We got asked some difficult questions tonight because they do play direct but we stood up to it,” said Curle.

“They have some good quality, they have a physical presence and they have willing runners and want to play on the front foot so we had to stand up to them.

“We also had to make sure we were a threat when we got the ball and I thought we were. We coped well with their aerial bombardment and we were brave and competitive and willing to accept the challenge.

“That was pleasing because you know you’re going to have to stand up against a Steve Evans team as they will try to find a weakness in you but I thought we did very well and protected our goal very well.

“I can’t really remember our goalkeeper having much to do. They scored the free-kick but other than that we stood up to them and it was good to have Alan Sheehan and Shaun McWilliams back, as well as the addition of Lloyd Jones.”