Gills suffer 'stage fright'

Gillingham boss Peter Taylor believes his side are suffering from stage fright at home after sinking to a 1-0 defeat to Oldham.

In the same week that the Gills were dumped out of the FA Cup by Non-League Brackley, Taylor's side were downed by a debut goal from 18-year-old Mike Petrasso. Cody McDonald had the hosts' best chance of the match, but he shot tamely at Oldham keeper Mark Oxley 20 minutes from time, while Danny Philliskirk, Joseph Mills and Korey Smith could all have added to Petrasso's looping header. "I'm frustrated with the players because I don't think we're showing what we're capable of. Players seem to be losing confidence a little too quickly or easily," said Taylor. "If everything starts right we have a good afternoon, but sometimes if somebody makes a mistake it affects their performance. "Second half Oldham didn't hurt us anywhere near as much as they had in the first half, but I was disappointed with the goal. "I want to see how they got through us. We've got to start getting more clean sheets because there's times when you won't play the way you want to, as we've shown, and in those games you can't give anything away. "At home it seems like players have nerves because they don't want to let the team down. "That's not the fans' fault, the majority of them have been terrific. I think we've got to be stronger than that." It was only the visitors' second away league win of the season and first since their opening-day triumph at Stevenage. But the only blot on Oldham's copybook was a late red card for Genseric Kusunga, who received his marching orders for tangling with Danny Kedwell, which led to a mass brawl between the two teams.