Under-21s left to rue poor defensive performance

Having trailed 4-0 Albion eventually went down 4-3 to Gillingham - but they can still progress in the Jersey Mike's Trophy.

Luke Nicoli

2026-10-14T12:45+01:00

Shannon Ruth was left to reflect on a poor defensive performance by the under-21s at Priestfield. 📷Simon Roe

Men’s under-21 head coach Shannon Ruth was left to rue his side’s defending as Albion lost Tuesday’s Jersey Mike’s Trophy game 4-3 at Gillingham.

The hosts led 3-0 at half-time and scored a fourth shortly after the restart, only for the Seagulls to hit back strongly with Shane Nti hitting a fine brace and Tyler Silsby a superb free-kick on the stroke of full time.

Yet it was the manner of the defending which left the side with a mountain to climb and now needing a positive result at group leaders Cambridge United next month to make progress in the competition.

“I’m really frustrated because on another day we win the game,” said Ruth. “Three of the four goals conceded were really poor goals to give away.

“We deserved more out of the game but you can’t give goals away like that – and that’s a good lesson for the guys who are maybe going out on loan in January or for the boys who will be around our first team. At senior level, playing well and losing isn’t acceptable, so there’s a harsh lesson there.”

Ruth feels his side’s game management could also have been better, with all four Gillingham goals coming in the space of 17 minutes either side of the break.

Kofi Shaw brings the ball under control. 📷Simon Roe

“We’ve got to recover from errors better as a team,” he added. “We conceded one, two, three, whereas if we’d gone in at half-time 1-0 down, or 2-0 down at worst, with the way we play and the players we have, then we’d probably go on and win the game.

“Where we need to be better is riding those bad moments out and not conceding because we’ll always create chances at the other end. We just need to have a better clean-sheet mentality.”

Albion’s attacking intent was not in question on the night, with three excellent goals scored. Silsby also hit the post, while George Munday had a close-range effort saved.

“Over the course of the game, the football we played and the courage we showed at being 4-0 down was a positive for me,” Ruth added. “We scored some really good goals and went close on a number of other occasions. From a chance-creating perspective, we did more than enough – you just can’t give the opponent, especially one with over 500 EFL appearances in their team and with the football nous they have, a four-goal head start.”

Albion currently sit second in the table, level on points with Gillingham, who face bottom-placed Northampton Town in their final game. With the top two progressing from the group, Ruth is now looking forward to facing leaders Cambridge on 3 November.

“We want to take care of business ourselves and win the game,” he added. “We feel that if we play like we know we can we’ll have a really good chance of getting something.

“The challenge, looking at the table, is that all three teams can go through, so goal difference could well play a part. One thing I’m really pleased with the lads about is that, at half-time on Tuesday, we were level on goal difference with Gillingham, but scoring those three goals in the second half could now be really important come the end of the three games.”