Gillingham 1 Sutton United 0: Scott Kashket, Ryan Law and Mikael Mandron all denied by the officials before Alex MacDonald scores stoppage-time winner

Alex MacDonald came off the bench to score a much-needed winning goal for lowly Gillingham on Saturday.

Struggling Gills had more goals disallowed in the opening half at Priestfield than they had scored in their first 10 league games, as the officials denied Scott Kashket, Ryan Law and Mika Mandron. But their second half pressure finally paid off when MacDonald headed in on 91 minutes.

Manager Neil Harris went for pace against a physical Sutton side, naming both wingers Hakeeb Adelakun and Jordan Green from the start. With no wins in eight and just two goals scored so far in League 2, it was at least a positive line-up.

Sutton hadn’t won on the road ahead of their trip to Priestfield and the opening half wasn’t for the purest. This was the first ever league meeting between the teams.

The Gills had chances from set-pieces that they were unable to make anything of. With Ben Reeves out injured it was left to Shaun Williams to take care of dead-balls. But it was from open play where the hosts were denied three times by the officials.

There were few complaints when Scott Kashket’s effort was ruled out for offside early on but the next two were certainly closer.

Ryan Law smashed the ball home from the edge of the box but the referee had already blown for a foul after Mandron’s acrobatic attempt to convert Green’s cross was deemed dangerous, as a Sutton defender was caught.

Kashket was deemed offside again - the most controversial of the decisions - as he ran onto a free-kick played down the flank. He crossed for Mandron but as the striker netted the linesman had already flagged, to the frustration of a goal-starved Gillingham crowd.

Sutton didn’t offer a great deal going forward, often overhitting their long balls forward. One