Stephen Clemence admitted that his mentor Steve Bruce would not have been impressed at Gillingham’s defending after sloppy work at the back led to a 2-0 home defeat to Bradford.
Goals from Jamie Walker and Andy Cook were enough to clinch a fifth straight win for Graham Alexander’s side, handing Clemence his first home league defeat since he took over at the start of November.
The former Premier League midfielder, who spent time under Bruce at various clubs, explained how his former boss would have been disappointed by the showing at Priestfield Stadium.
He said: “They’ve had two shots on target and they’ve scored two goals. It’s about mentality. You’ve got to keep going and keep doing the right things. You can’t get a scrambled brain every time you go behind. You’ve got to get the basics right and compete properly.
“I can pick up the phone to a number of people to try and help me, but I am the one who has to make the decisions now. I have to choose who I speak to carefully and people I really trust and go forward with my decision.
“I speak to people like Steve Bruce all the time. We’ve just kept two clean sheets before this, but here we give two goals away. He wouldn’t like that very much – and I don’t like it very much either.”
Gillingham had the better of the early chances, Macauley Bonne’s flick-on from Connor Mahoney’s corner brilliantly palmed away by Harry Lewis.
Instead, it was Bradford who hit the front just after the half-hour as Scott Malone was pickpocketed deep in his own half by Alex Gilliead, who squared to Walker for the simple finish from 12 yards.
Gillingham pushed for an equaliser after the break, with Mahoney posing questions from set-pieces and Max Ehmer heading over when well placed.
But it was Bradford who doubled their lead on 74 minutes, Cook firing his free-kick under the wall from 25 yards out.
Alexander said: “That was the toughest game we’ve played, with everything coming to this venue brings and we stood up to it really well. I do feel the players are in a good place.
“We spoke at half-time that their crowd, the players, their team were going to put a lot of pressure on the officials to give free-kicks and maybe throw cards out there.
“We asked for discipline and then have three yellows in five minutes and give away free-kick after free-kick. It didn’t quite go according to plan on that side but when the ball did come into the box we were there to compete and put our bodies on the line.”
On Lewis’ save from Bonne, he added: “Harry’s not been tested that much in the last few games. But what he’s had to do, he’s done really competently.
“That’s probably the first one when you’ve gone, ‘that’s a fantastic save’. He was really sharp on his line and those are the little moments that we have to make sure go our way.”
Man United could be without Toone until new year, says Skinner
Marc Skinner revealed that Manchester United could be without midfielder Ella Toone until the new year after she picked up a calf injury in training.
Toone has featured in five games in the Women's Super League this season, but is yet to register a goal or an assist so far this term.
The 25-year-old has missed United's last two games and was not selected in Sarina Wiegman's England squad for their upcoming friendlies against the United States and Switzerland.
She had previously appeared in a staggering 96 straight matches before missing United's WSL showdown with Leicester City last weekend.
But ahead of the Red Devils' meeting with league leaders Chelsea on Sunday, Skinner confirmed they would be without Toone for not only that game, but for the foreseeable future.
"We have three games [after the international break and before Christmas]. There's always the hope, but I think you balance and you go, 'right, if we can get her back, we get her back'," Skinner said.
"But we're just not going to rush her in this moment because it's a calf injury, it's your running mechanism. If we injure the running mechanism, it takes longer.
"So ideally we'd like her back for those games afterwards.
"The projection is she misses this game [Chelsea], she misses the international window, probably misses the first game after that, and then we'll see from there.
"But because it is such a short block of only three games, we'll assess whether it's worth that or actually resetting to come back after Christmas."
Al-Nassr 1-2 Al-Qadsiah: Aubameyang winner ends hosts' unbeaten run
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hit the winner as Al-Qadsiah inflicted a 2-1 defeat on Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League on Friday to end their 21-match unbeaten run.
Cristiano Ronaldo's seventh league goal of the season put Al-Nassr ahead, but Al-Qadsiah replied swiftly through Julian Quinones before Aubameyang struck the decisive blow.
The hosts drew first blood in the 32nd minute when Ronaldo slotted home after Al-Qadsiah goalkeeper Koen Casteels had spilled a routine catch from Talisca's cross.
However, Al-Nassr's joy was short-lived when Quinones brought down Turki Al Ammar's delivery five minutes later, with the Mexcio winger firing past Bento to level the scores.
Quinones also played a part in the winning goal after brilliantly turning the ball back across goal from Nahitan Nandez's search pass to tee up a simple finish for Aubameyang.
The result sees Al-Qadsiah move level on 22 points with third-placed Al-Nassr, with Al-Shabab also level with them.
Stefano Pioli's Al-Nassr are six points adrift of defending champions and leaders Al-Hilal, who also have a game in hand.
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