Danny Hylton broke the deadlock just before half-time, however Tom Eaves equalised shortly after the restart.

Jack Stacey got his second goal in as many games as he beat Tomas Holy at his near post, but Luke O'Neill bent in a wonderful free-kick to ensure the spoils were shared.

The result sees the Town maintain their five-point lead at the top of the third tier, with Doncaster Rovers their next opponents.

Harford said: "The boys gave everything, it was a real tough encounter. I think you've got to give credit to Gillingham – the way they played, the way they set-up. A really dangerous outfit, they played two strikers up front who were quite lively. I thought Eaves was a big handful today.

"Chances, we created lots and lots of chances, we got into some really, really good positions, maybe final ball again, not so clinical in the final third. We need to be that little bit more clinical in and around the penalty area and tuck those chances away.

"But it's been a tough week, a real tough week. Lots of mileage, three games, so overall we have taken five points from three games. We obviously want to be better, we want to win every game, but you can't win every game, so you've got to give credit to the opposition a little bit today I think.

"There's no excuses. We're not blaming travelling, we're not blaming fatigue. We just had one of those days where we worked our socks off. I thought they gave everything, they tried everything.

"We made substitutions to try and change the game and it never dropped for us. We got in some great positions, Kaz when he came on, I don't know how that one stayed out the net. Jack Stacey got in some great positions second half, balls flying across the box and it never went in for us.

"But credit to Gillingham, they came here and they were very expansive, they matched us up and in stages of the game they were excellent."