STEVE Evans felt his Gillingham side were too respectful of Oxford United in the first half of their clash at Priestfield.

Tariqe Fosu's high-quality strike was the difference between the sides at the break.

United had been in control of the game, but came under more pressure in a second half where Brandon Hanlan's penalty earned a 1-1 draw.

Also read: Gillingham 1, Oxford Utd 1 - match report

Evans thought a point apiece was the right result, after needing to get a response from his players at the break.

He told Kent Online: "I was full of praise afterwards and said that if we played like that for 95 minutes, which is easy for the manager to say, we would beat Oxford, it is simple as that.

"But if you take the totality of the game, I think I’ll wake up in the morning and be thinking a point shared is a probably deserved for both teams.”

He added: "(In the first half) we seemed a yard off the pace, we didn’t have any composure, we didn’t pick the right pass, it was over-hit or under-hit.

Also read: Oxford United gave everything in draw at Gillingham, says Karl Robinson

“We probably stood off them and maybe as a management team we were a little to blame, maybe we spoke too glowingly in terms of how good a side Oxford are.

"They had to score a special goal, from a real special talent.

"It’s a great goal but Stuart (O’Keefe) should have done better. We had identified what this kid could do, we said about him coming inside."