Manager Gareth Ainsworth admitted he was as frustrated as the Gillingham fans after Saturday’s heavy defeat.

The Gills fell behind to an early goal but when Ronan Hale equalised late in the first half, things looked bright.

But the Gills conceded from the penalty spot in the 54th minute and quickly let in two more, which led to many fans leaving early.

“I'm as frustrated as them,” Ainsworth said.

“I went in there [to the changing room] and let the players have it because that wasn't good enough for me.

“I pride myself on being a winner. We didn't have enough winners out there. The fans have got every right to voice their frustrations.

“It's their club. They're here long before I was here and they'll be here long after I go.

“Like every manager and every player that comes to this place, they're the heartbeat of the club, and I want to give them something to shout about. Hopefully, we can do that next week.”

The Gills struggled once they conceded the second from the penalty spot, with goals that followed on 63 and 70 minutes.

Ainsworth said: “They put the ball in our goal four times, and that's not acceptable at home.

“I didn't see it coming, if I'm honest, at half-time. I thought we probably edged it at half-time. We were the better team on the ball. Some good chances, and it looked for all the world that we were going to score again.

“They've hit a thunderbolt [for 1-0], which is a great strike, and after that, I don't think there was too much trouble. They hit the bar from the corner, I think we've hit the bar from the corner, we've had some good chances there.

“Second half, wow, the conditions worsened, and we didn't deal with it well.

“We didn't deal with the first balls or the second balls, we got played round in midfield, our restarts were terrible. We got carved apart.

“It changes with the penalty. I think it's a poor penalty to concede, and we never got a foothold back in the game, and you try all you want to, but their men, they dominated that second half, and that was not a good showing from us.”

Before the match, Grimsby hadn’t won in the league away from home. A four-game losing streak was ended in midweek with a 2-2 draw at Rochdale.

Ainsworth said: “They're a good side, believe me, they're full of men, they're full of proper experience in their team.

“Green and Cook and Rodgers, they've got some real, real good players in their team. My experience, your Liam Gordons and Kadeem Harris, Eli Kings, they're in the treatment room, which is tough to take, but I'm not going to blame that.

“We weren't good enough in duels and tackles and headers, and we didn't test them enough.

“They put us in the right areas; we didn't put them in the right areas. It was hard to watch the second half, but no excuses; we'll go again, keep these boys committed, and I'm sure they'll get the next result.”