The referee got it wrong says Gillingham boss Neil Harris after controversial Mansfield Town equaliser

The referee allowed Stags to take a quick free kick from which Davis Keillor-Dunn scored but the home players had stopped as the official had taken out a yellow card and they expected it to be shown before play resumed.

“In a calm manner, I just reminded (the referee) that it is not just about the letter of the law he has to interpret,” said Harris.

“He has to interpret what’s going on around the football as well and referee with humility and that was the moment that was missing.”

“But otherwise that was two really good teams and a really good game. I am sure the fans went home entertained.

“Mansfield are a very attacking outfit, they had chances to win it, we had chances to win it.

“We have five tough games in 14 days, and we have set our standard now, not just with the home point but with the level of performance.

“I am content with the point, we were really good at times but they were really good as well and you have to accept they will score goals and hurt teams.”

Harris continued: “If you can’t win games at home we have to make sure we don’t lose and we did, we finished strongly as well and could have nicked it.

“The players were very pleased with their performance. That is the level of performance at home we have to replicate consistently. That is our standard.

“That first 39 minutes was absolutely exceptional football, the way we competed, without the ball, the way we passed it, moved, chances created, we were really good.

“Credit to Mansfield, who were better than us in the first 20 minutes of the second half, but we gained the ascendancy at times and I thought it was a really good game of football, a really strong performance from the players I picked.”

“Mansfield are two and a half years in working to get to that level of performance, we have transfer windows in front of us to get to that, that’s where we are trying to get to but that is the challenge for us this year at the level.”