Gillingham manager Neil Harris reacts to penalty shoot-out victory over Exeter City in Carabao Cup second round

Neil Harris had total faith in David Tutonda when he stepped up to take the decisive penalty in Gillingham’s Carabao Cup win over Exeter.

Tutonda’s staggered run-up and ice-cool finish saw the Gills triumph 6-5 on penalties at Priestfield on Tuesday night after a goalless draw.

Olly Lee, Mikael Mandron, Will Wright, Ben Reeves and Hakeeb Adekulan all scored before the wing-back bagged the winner after Gills keeper Jake Turner denied Josh Key.

“If we can be that clinical in open play we’ll be all right,” said boss Harris, after the second-round victory.

“Even the penalties tonight, what that does, that gives those players confidence moving forward and I’m really pleased for Dave Tutonda to get the winning spot-kick.

“He took it well and he does practise, he’s one that stays behind after training messing around and taking penalties against the goalkeepers.

“I was confident on the five first and I was certainly confident with David sixth. I thought he was excellent tonight.

“That’s the sort of level of performance he has to put in every week if he wants to play in the team.

“He’s in a dogfight with Ryan Law to play in that position and there’s not a lot between the two players.

“That’s what we want, that competitive nature in the squad and David’s certainly done himself no harm tonight.”

Both sides made six changes for the tie, which attracted a crowd of just under 3,000.

There were chances at either end but it went to penalties after 90 minutes, with Gillingham getting the better of their League 1 visitors.

Harris said: “It’s cup football, you just have to get through, so whether we won in open play or penalties is a little bit irrelevant to me.

“We got through, that’s the most important thing but the game itself I thought