Gillingham manager Gareth Ainsworth on signing Mansfield Town goalkeeper Owen Mason on an emergency loan with injuries to Ollie Wright and Lennon MacLorg

Gillingham manager Gareth Ainsworth stood by his decision to bring in a goalkeeper on loan.

The Gills handed a debut to keeper Owen Mason, who joined from Mansfield on an emergency seven-day loan, in the 3-0 Carabao Cup defeat to Luton on Saturday.

With summer signing Ollie Wright not featuring in pre-season due to injury, Ainsworth had to choose between handing Taite Holtam a rare first-team outing or moving into the loan market.

He opted to bring in Mason, who has only one Football League appearance to his name but has spent time on loan at Gateshead and Southend in the past two seasons.

“I think Taite, for me, it was just a bit early to shove him in and be number one,” explained Ainsworth. “I wanted to go down this route and I'll stand by that.

“If it doesn't come off, then that'll be my fault, but I'm pretty sure that Taite's one for the future. At the moment, we've utilised the emergency loan route.”

Mason linked up with the Gills during the week and Ainsworth disclosed he’d trained with the players for a couple of days.

“He’s trained a lot with us in the last couple of days, but not lots when you consider he's not been here for pre-season,” said Ainsworth.

“There's all sorts of protocols you have to go through to get an emergency loan in, proving that your keeper's injured and you haven't got anyone who's played more than five league games.

“There's all these rules that apply for emergency loans. I felt for him because he's only come in for a couple of days but he's done fine.

“Owen kicked the ball very well. He's going to be a weapon there and he made some good saves in the first half.”

Southampton loanee Wright will be considered for this weekend’s League 2 opener at home to Walsall.

But Ainsworth will be more