Gillingham 0 Fulham u21s 1 | Match reaction from Gills’ head coach Stephen Clemence

Gillingham head coach Stephen Clemence was looking at the bigger picture after their EFL Trophy midweek defeat.

A 1-0 loss to Fulham under-21s ends their involvement in the Trophy but he was pleased to see a number of players gain valuable match practice ahead of some tough league encounters.

Report: Gillingham 0-1 Fulham

Tim Dieng – returning from injury – and Lewis Walker – back from loan – got plenty of minutes along with players looking to force their way into his starting XI, like Max Ehmer, George Lapslie, Max Clark and Tom Nichols.

Clemence made 10 changes from the team he picked to play at Hereford on the Saturday.

“I think we can play better than what we did,” he said, reacting to the 1-0 defeat.

“It was difficult though, we made 10 changes, we didn’t know the team until today (Tuesday) as we had a few issues inside the squad. I wanted to see everyone play as well.

“We’ve played some young players in the team who I haven’t even trained with yet and it was difficult.

“Hats off to Fulham, they have a good young side, they are flying high in the Premier League 2 with good technical players.

“I’m disappointed with the result but the positive is that we have got some minutes into some of the boys that needed it and that will stand them in good stead going into the league fixture at the weekend.

“I was apprehensive going into this game because we hadn’t done the work with the players, I didn’t get the opportunity to work on the training ground with the team because of the issues inside the squad, and who was going to play, who was fit.

“We decided to go with what we went with, we got vital minutes into the boys and that is the most important thing, that’s the best thing that has come out of the game.

“It was good to