Gareth Ainsworth believes “there is lots to work on” with his Gillingham squad after his first game in charge of the club ended in a 1-1 draw at Harrogate.
Gills looked to be on course for a ninth defeat in 18 League Two matches, but Max Clark’s 68th-minute penalty secured a point.
And Ainsworth, who was lured away from League One strugglers Shrewsbury earlier in the week, was far from downbeat after the final whistle.
“I was really pleased by the character shown by the boys,” he said.
“I said that one of my non-negotiables is emptying the tank, and all of them emptied the tank, and that’s all you can ask as a manager.
“There is lots to work on with this team. We were a little bit nervous at times when defending, a little bit uncertain at times. I want to work on that, and on being a little bit more cute.
“Going forwards we can be a lot better, we can get that ball down, but in defence of the boys, when you come away to places like Harrogate, they are quite direct and you get sucked into a direct game.
“We are all good players, but you’ve got to win the battle and earn the right to play.
“At half-time, I said ‘no worries, they’ve got a goal, but you are kicking towards your fans now, let’s get that ball down, let’s play the better football’ – and I thought we did that, in the second half especially, and we deserved to get back into the game.”
Josh March broke the deadlock in the 40th minute, winning and then converting a penalty to put Harrogate in front.
But the striker was booked for supposed simulation early on having gone down in the box, with Town manager Simon Weaver adamant referee David Rock got that decision wrong.
“The first incident, it 100 per cent was a penalty. Without a doubt,” Weaver said.
“I’m not just giving an emotional response after the game, I’ve seen it back. I actually watched it at half-time and how he has been given a yellow card, I really don’t know.
“It’s guesswork. It’s a lottery sometimes at this level. You’re expecting the flag to go across the linesman’s chest and the referee to point to the spot, but you never really know. It can be judged the other way and it was judged to be a yellow card – again.”
