Gillingham 1 Sutton United: Reaction from Gills manager Neil Harris as Alex MacDonald scores winning goal at Priestfield

Gillingham manager Neil Harris was delighted to see Alex MacDonald hit the winner for his team on Saturday.

MacDonald’s career was threatened by a serious knee injury last season, that left him facing almost a year in rehab, before coming back this summer to try and work his way into Harris’ first team plans. He came off the bench against Sutton United to replace injured Jordan Green and took his chance, heading in a 91st minute winner.

Report: Gillingham 1 Sutton 0

Harris said: “I am really pleased for Macca, he had a horrible injury and a tough period of trying to get up to speed, he has had to work extremely hard off the pitch, sometimes it falls natural for people to be fit and get fit and get back to their fighting weight and other people you have to be patient with them.

“Macca has worked extremely hard, he has been in the gym at 8am working hard to get back to his fighting way, to get that sharpness. For me, he still a way to go on the sharpness side of it and he knows that but that comes from game-time. I am really pleased for him and the reason he scores is because he reads the game well, where he might have lacked that pace, he reads the game and understands it.”

It was a saved shot from man-of-the-match Scott Kashket that led to MacDonald pouncing on the loose ball as keeper Lewis Ward parried.

Kashket had earlier twice been flagged for offside, leading to two goals being ruled out by the officials. Ryan Law was also denied a goal for a foul by Mikael Mandron in the buildup to his effort hitting the net, leading Harris to wonder if it was ever going to be their day.

He said: “I don’t know if I have been in a game where I have had three disallowed goals in a half, we were getting in the right positions, that’s