Gillingham FC 'undoubtedly should have scored a lot of goals' against Harrogate Town, claims Neil Harris

Alex Pattison fires an early chance over the cross-bar during Harrogate Town's 2-0 League Two win at Gillingham. Matt Kirkham

Gillingham boss Neil Harris felt his side “undoubtedly should have scored a lot of goals” against Harrogate Town on Tuesday evening.

The Sulphurites triumphed by a 2-0 scoreline at Priestfield thanks to strikes in each half from Matty Daly and Alex Pattison.

And their margin of victory could easily have been far greater had it not been for some superb goalkeeping by overworked Gills stopper Glenn Morris.

The home custodian made four excellent saves on the night, while Pattison and Kayne Ramsay both missed the target from close range when they really ought to have done much better.

Gillingham manager Neil Harris. Picture: Getty Images

Indeed, despite Harris stating that Town “very rarely got in our penalty area”, the Sulphurites actually registered five shots on target during the 90 minutes.

Gillingham, meanwhile, managed only two, forcing Mark Oxley into just the one save of any real note despite enjoying 57 percent of possession.

“Box-to-box, some of our football was excellent,” Harris told Kent Online. “We were really good with the ball, couldn’t score, put the ball in enough danger areas, forced enough corner kicks, put enough balls across the six-yard box, enough cutback crosses.

“Certainly in the first half, the balance was really good. We got in some really good areas and, undoubtedly, should have scored a lot of goals.

“If you are not going to score, because you played well but you can’t score, then you have to get a clean sheet and it has to be 0-0. I think the statistics show they very rarely got in our penalty area but, when they did get there, it was too easy for them to create chances.

“So we had a bad habit of not having the ability to score at one end and then we were too easy to score against at the other end, hence why we lose the game. It’s as simple as that."

Perhaps unsurprisingly given how the contest played out, Harrogate chief Simon Weaver felt his side were good value for all three points.

"We played some great football, there was some terrific slick passing at times and we created numerous opportunities to score,” he reflected.

"This was a thoroughly deserved, hard-fought away victory.”

Tuesday night’s result lifts Town up to eighth in the League Two standings ahead of this weekend’s trip to Barrow.