Gillingham manager Mark Bonner was left frustrated that his side never killed ten-man Swindon Town off in their 1-1 draw at The Nigel Eady County Ground.

The Kent side are now winless in their last six, having lost the previous five games as their fast start to the season in which they were top of the table just a few weeks ago has fallen off the rails.

Bonner said that he felt that his side left the door open to a potential sucker punch which eventually came right at the death with Harry Smith’s header.

Speaking to club media, he said: “The key is that when you have got the game, and there are lots of ways of managing the game, and one of the ways of doing that is murdering them and killing them when it is yours to take.

“You have to take the game from them as otherwise you end up giving them a chance and we ended up giving them a chance because we didn’t get that one to extend it.

“There is obviously the element of tension going into the game because of the rivalry and the run, so there is an element of that in the team, there is no question about that.

“That is obvious because we were desperate to come here and not get beaten today and then we have but the way the game has gone you feel like we should have won.

“We have taken a point when we should have taken three.”

Bonner switched to a back three away from his normal 4231 for the game, in part to try and cope with Smith, who ended up having the decisive moment with a third goal in as many games since his return from illness.

He said: “We could have played Shad [Ogie] at left-back in a back four as we have done before but we felt like we wanted to be as strong as possible and have bodies defensively to deal with Harry Smith. Lo and behold it doesn’t help us at the end.

“There is always that one chance but we were never under huge threat in the game, I felt that we had good control and we controlled Harry Smith quite well.

“He was quite far away from goal a lot but that is what he does and that is the dimension that he gives them in the last moment when they are chasing it and we don’t quite get it right.”