Michael Flynn was extremely proud of his illness-hit Cheltenham squad as they returned home from Gillingham with a 2-2 draw.
Several Robins players were struggling with a virus but they recovered from falling behind to Jayden Clarke’s strike to lead through Luke Young and George Miller, before George Lapslie rescued a point for the hosts.
“I was disappointed with the goals we gave away but Gillingham started the better team, first 15 or 20 minutes,” Flynn said.
“We didn’t get going but what I will say is, I have three or four of them ill. Joel Colwill was one of them and that’s why he came off early.
“The boys have put in an unbelievable shift and I thought they were brilliant.
“The work-rate, the goals and in the second half, we were really dangerous on the counter and we stood up to the aerial bombardment well against a strong, strong team.”
Looking for a third win in succession, Gillingham opened the scoring through Clarke in the 24th minute after goalkeeper Joe Day spilled a low shot from Elliott Nevitt.
Young’s leveller was a perfectly placed free-kick in the 36th minute, curled into the top right corner from 25 yards beyond the reach of Glenn Morris, who was celebrating his 41st birthday.
Cheltenham then took the lead through Miller’s sixth goal of the season on the hour, heading in Tom Bradbury’s cross, but Lapslie levelled things from Nevitt’s cut-back at the end of a slick move eight minutes later.
Bradley Dack saw a shot rebound off the bar for the Gills deep into time added on.
Their manager Mark Bonner felt it was an opportunity missed but admitted he enjoy the game overall.
“It was a really good, entertaining game and we gave it a really good go,” he said.
“We had a lot of chances in the game and we were the more likely to win it.
“Overall, we are frustrated with what we conceded and the fact we haven’t taken three points because it’s a bit of an opportunity missed.
“I hated how we started the second half, we lacked intensity and their second goal was absolute toilet.
“But I am really pleased we have kept a little run going, which is key. There were times when we looked really good, which is promising going into a busy period.”
