George Lapslie, Tom Nichols and Shaun Williams step up after Gillingham manager Neil Harris had called for senior support

Gillingham manager Neil Harris has praised the senior players who showed up for him on Saturday.

Harris said after their previous game at Grimsby that he needed his experienced men around and at the weekend, when he was short on numbers, both George Lapslie and Tom Nichols helped get them through.

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The Gills boss admitted Lapslie was blowing after just 25 minutes, having barely trained in two weeks, and Nichols felt he could only manage 15. Both were recovering from knocks and the pair lasted a lot longer than expected.

Harris has also seen injured striker Oli Hawkins step up his injury recovery and 36-year-old captain Shaun Williams last the distance in the energy-sapping heat at the weekend, firing them to victory late on.

Harris said: “I am really pleased with the character of the players and off the back of maybe some stern words from me in my post-match presser (after Grimsby) and in the changing room, that is a great way to respond, I can’t praise the players highly enough for that result.

“George Lapslie got through 60-odd minutes and he needed to come off after 25, he signalled to say he might be done already, because he had 30 minutes of training in two and a half weeks. I was delighted with the character shown by the boys.

“Tom Nichols hadn’t trained but he came to see me on Friday and said, ‘Gaffer, we are short, I know you are thinking about going with five subs, I have 15 minutes in me!’ I put him on at 65 and he had to go for longer than we hoped.

There’s some great coaching talent working behind the scenes at Gillingham with an experienced man leading the way#gills #gfchttps://t.co/Qf5fLighL0

“He said he wasn’t fit but would give me what he’s got. There was a