Gillingham boss Andy Hessenthaler paid tribute to his players' efforts despite their 1-1 draw with Northampton at Sixfields.
Jo Kuffour's ninth goal of the season cancelled a first senior goal on his full debut from Lewis Wilson, but despite their second-half pressure, the Gills were unable to get the winner which would have kept their hopes alive.
Hessenthaler said: "I couldn't fault the lads' efforts in this game, the conditions were difficult and we went 1-0 down to a sloppy goal that came when we switched off.
"We knew they would get it from back to front very quickly and we knew it would be like that so we should have had a better mentality in terms of dealing with that.
"We had a right go at them in the second half and we tried and tried to get the winner but we were just a bit unlucky.
"They cleared one off the line as well and we could have won it but we've just missed out in the end."
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