Gillingham manager Neil Harris learned plenty from 4-0 defeat at League 1 Cambridge United

Gillingham manager Neil Harris says he learned a lot from their heavy midweek defeat at Cambridge United.

The League 1 side won the game 4-0 against Gillingham’s first team behind closed doors at the Abbey Stadium on Tuesday afternoon. The hosts were three-up at the break and had also hit the crossbar.

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Home forward Fejiri Okenabirhie added his second of the match to complete the scoring after the break.

It was an eye-opener for the Gills boss after seeing some good performances prior to their midweek trip.

Harris said: “If I have talked about how good we have been, I have to be really honest and say it wasn’t a good day for us. Did I learn more about my team in Como beating a Serie B side or more at Cambridge? I learned more at Cambridge.

“Did I learn more in the first half against Charlton where we absolutely bossed it, or more in the second half? More in the second half. You tend to learn more from the negatives.

“At Cambridge I learned about combinations, players that I looked at and thought, ‘I don’t like them together’, and I also saw deficiencies in the group that I feared, but sometimes it is best to get them out of the way pre-season. You never want to see it, but I did.

“On the flip side, I did see some really good stuff as well. It is about me learning at the right times and I learned a lot at Cambridge. They were right at it and we treated it like a pre-season friendly.”