diff --git a/pkg/apis/agones/v1/gameserver.go b/pkg/apis/agones/v1/gameserver.go
index e8a00696fa..40fb7c9298 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/agones/v1/gameserver.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/agones/v1/gameserver.go
@@ -578,7 +578,7 @@ func (gss *GameServerSpec) Validate(apiHooks APIHooks, devAddress string, fldPat
 
 	// make sure the container value points to a valid container
 	if !gss.HasContainer(gss.Container, false) {
-		allErrs = append(allErrs, field.Invalid(fldPath.Child("container"), gss.Container, "Could not find a container named " + gss.Container))
+		allErrs = append(allErrs, field.Invalid(fldPath.Child("container"), gss.Container, "Could not find a container named "+gss.Container))
 	}
 
 	// no host port when using dynamic PortPolicy
diff --git a/test/e2e/framework/framework.go b/test/e2e/framework/framework.go
index 218c04dbf4..a8ea56a267 100644
--- a/test/e2e/framework/framework.go
+++ b/test/e2e/framework/framework.go
@@ -540,6 +540,7 @@ func (f *Framework) SendGameServerUDP(t *testing.T, gs *agonesv1.GameServer, msg
 
 // SendGameServerUDPToPort sends a message to a gameserver at the named port and returns its reply
 // returns error if no Ports were allocated or a port of the specified name doesn't exist
+// nolint:dupl
 func (f *Framework) SendGameServerUDPToPort(t *testing.T, gs *agonesv1.GameServer, portName string, msg string) (string, error) {
 	log := TestLogger(t)
 	if len(gs.Status.Ports) == 0 {
@@ -610,7 +611,8 @@ func (f *Framework) SendUDP(t *testing.T, address, msg string) (string, error) {
 // SendGameServerTCP sends a message to a gameserver and returns its reply
 // finds the first tcp port from the spec to send the message to,
 // returns error if no Ports were allocated
-func SendGameServerTCP(gs *agonesv1.GameServer, msg string) (string, error) {
+// nolint:dupl
+func (f *Framework) SendGameServerTCP(t *testing.T, gs *agonesv1.GameServer, msg string) (string, error) {
 	if len(gs.Status.Ports) == 0 {
 		return "", errors.New("Empty Ports array")
 	}
@@ -618,7 +620,7 @@ func SendGameServerTCP(gs *agonesv1.GameServer, msg string) (string, error) {
 	// use first tcp port
 	for _, p := range gs.Spec.Ports {
 		if p.Protocol == corev1.ProtocolTCP {
-			return SendGameServerTCPToPort(gs, p.Name, msg)
+			return f.SendGameServerTCPToPort(t, gs, p.Name, msg)
 		}
 	}
 	return "", errors.New("No TCP ports")
@@ -626,7 +628,9 @@ func SendGameServerTCP(gs *agonesv1.GameServer, msg string) (string, error) {
 
 // SendGameServerTCPToPort sends a message to a gameserver at the named port and returns its reply
 // returns error if no Ports were allocated or a port of the specified name doesn't exist
-func SendGameServerTCPToPort(gs *agonesv1.GameServer, portName string, msg string) (string, error) {
+// nolint:dupl
+func (f *Framework) SendGameServerTCPToPort(t *testing.T, gs *agonesv1.GameServer, portName string, msg string) (string, error) {
+	log := TestLogger(t)
 	if len(gs.Status.Ports) == 0 {
 		return "", errors.New("Empty Ports array")
 	}
@@ -637,36 +641,57 @@ func SendGameServerTCPToPort(gs *agonesv1.GameServer, portName string, msg strin
 		}
 	}
 	address := fmt.Sprintf("%s:%d", gs.Status.Address, port.Port)
-	return SendTCP(address, msg)
-}
+	reply, err := f.SendTCP(t, address, msg)
 
-// SendTCP sends a message to an address, and returns its reply if
-// it returns one in 30 seconds
-func SendTCP(address, msg string) (string, error) {
-	conn, err := net.Dial("tcp", address)
 	if err != nil {
-		return "", err
+		log.WithField("gs", gs.ObjectMeta.Name).WithField("status", fmt.Sprintf("%+v", gs.Status)).Info("Failed to send TCP packet to GameServer. Dumping Events!")
+		f.LogEvents(t, log, gs.ObjectMeta.Namespace, gs)
 	}
 
-	if err := conn.SetReadDeadline(time.Now().Add(30 * time.Second)); err != nil {
-		return "", err
-	}
+	return reply, err
+}
 
-	defer func() {
-		if err := conn.Close(); err != nil {
-			logrus.Warn("Could not close TCP connection")
+// SendTCP sends a message to an address, and returns its reply if
+// it returns one in 30 seconds. Will retry 5 times, in case TCP packets drop.
+func (f *Framework) SendTCP(t *testing.T, address, msg string) (string, error) {
+	log := TestLogger(t).WithField("address", address)
+	var response string
+	// sometimes we get I/O timeout, so let's do a retry
+	err := wait.PollUntilContextTimeout(context.Background(), 2*time.Second, time.Minute, true, func(_ context.Context) (bool, error) {
+		conn, err := net.Dial("tcp", address)
+		if err != nil {
+			log.WithError(err).Info("could not dial address")
+			return false, nil
 		}
-	}()
 
-	// writes to the tcp connection
-	_, err = fmt.Fprintln(conn, msg)
-	if err != nil {
-		return "", err
-	}
+		defer func() {
+			if err := conn.Close(); err != nil {
+				log.Warn("Could not close TCP connection")
+			}
+		}()
+
+		if err := conn.SetReadDeadline(time.Now().Add(30 * time.Second)); err != nil {
+			log.WithError(err).Info("Could not set read deadline")
+			return false, nil
+		}
+
+		// writes to the tcp connection
+		_, err = fmt.Fprintln(conn, msg)
+		if err != nil {
+			log.WithError(err).Info("could not write message to address")
+			return false, nil
+		}
+
+		response, err = bufio.NewReader(conn).ReadString('\n')
+		if err != nil {
+			log.WithError(err).Info("Could not read from address")
+		}
+
+		return err == nil, nil
+	})
 
-	response, err := bufio.NewReader(conn).ReadString('\n')
 	if err != nil {
-		return "", err
+		return "", errors.Wrap(err, "timed out attempting to send TCP message to address")
 	}
 
 	return response, nil
diff --git a/test/e2e/gameserver_test.go b/test/e2e/gameserver_test.go
index 8d1c271f1c..8a7a711e51 100644
--- a/test/e2e/gameserver_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/gameserver_test.go
@@ -1043,7 +1043,7 @@ func TestGameServerTcpProtocol(t *testing.T) {
 	readyGs, err := framework.CreateGameServerAndWaitUntilReady(t, framework.Namespace, gs)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 
-	replyTCP, err := e2eframework.SendGameServerTCP(readyGs, "Hello World !")
+	replyTCP, err := framework.SendGameServerTCP(t, readyGs, "Hello World !")
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 	assert.Equal(t, "ACK TCP: Hello World !\n", replyTCP)
 }
@@ -1088,7 +1088,7 @@ func TestGameServerTcpUdpProtocol(t *testing.T) {
 
 	logrus.WithField("name", readyGs.ObjectMeta.Name).Info("UDP ping passed, sending TCP ping")
 
-	replyTCP, err := e2eframework.SendGameServerTCPToPort(readyGs, tcpPort.Name, "Hello World !")
+	replyTCP, err := framework.SendGameServerTCPToPort(t, readyGs, tcpPort.Name, "Hello World !")
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("Could not ping TCP GameServer: %v", err)
 	}
@@ -1137,7 +1137,7 @@ func TestGameServerStaticTcpUdpProtocol(t *testing.T) {
 
 	logrus.WithField("name", readyGs.ObjectMeta.Name).Info("UDP ping passed, sending TCP ping")
 
-	replyTCP, err := e2eframework.SendGameServerTCPToPort(readyGs, tcpPort.Name, "Hello World !")
+	replyTCP, err := framework.SendGameServerTCPToPort(t, readyGs, tcpPort.Name, "Hello World !")
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("Could not ping TCP GameServer: %v", err)
 	}
@@ -1164,7 +1164,7 @@ func TestGameServerStaticTcpProtocol(t *testing.T) {
 
 	logrus.WithField("name", readyGs.ObjectMeta.Name).Info("sending TCP ping")
 
-	replyTCP, err := e2eframework.SendGameServerTCP(readyGs, "Hello World !")
+	replyTCP, err := framework.SendGameServerTCP(t, readyGs, "Hello World !")
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 	assert.Equal(t, "ACK TCP: Hello World !\n", replyTCP)