Mansfield Town are top three material believes Gillingham boss Neil Harris after defeat

He also believes his side were badly done to on penalty decisions on the day.

Stags saw off his in-form Gills with first half goals by Ollie Clarke and Lucas Akins and Harris said: “I thought Mansfield were excellent. “They are a team pushing for the top three where we want to be.

“We have come up against a top three squad today and probably a top three team, having now seen everyone and some of them twice.

“They play in the way that we want to play. They're a good footballing team who can pass the ball but they also play it forward and run forward.

“Over the course of the 90 minutes they were slightly better than us today.

“Second half we were better. But first half we made some poor decisions and were not good enough in both boxes.”

Stags' second goal came from the spot and Harris said: “It was also a cheap penalty that was given against us. It was given for pulling the shirt. The referee agreed it was a bit of a soft penalty to give but at the time he thought it was a foul so he should give it.

“Our players thought it was six of one and half a dozen of the other.

“But the one at the other end on George, I agree if it was given it would have been a bit soft. But you can't make the rules up as you go along. I thought we came out on the wrong side of those decisions.”

He added: “I was disappointed with the performance, but the group have been fantastic over the last four weeks and taken 10 points from four games before today.

“So I will be careful what I say about my squad as they have been excellent before today.

“For us to keep getting better we need to be better than we were in that first half.

“Mansfield handled us well and were better than us at both ends of the pitch in the first half which is where we've fallen short today.

“We have recruited really well in the window, but all we are trying to do is compete with these sides that have spent money year after year.

“Even to be competitive in this league you have to invest wisely in your group.

“We have been to one of the hardest places to go in this division and come up a little bit short.”