Striker Seb Palmer-Houlden missed out on a first Gillingham start in competitive action in the EFL Trophy at Colchester United

Gillingham striker Seb Palmer-Houlden’s absence was explained by caretaker manager Richard Dobson after his no-show on the pitch at Colchester.

Palmer-Houlden scored in Saturday’s loss at MK Dons - his maiden goal for the Gills - and he looked set to make his first competitive start for the club after being named in the XI to play Colchester United in Tuesday’s EFL Trophy match.

Report: Colchester 2 Gillingham 1

But when the teams came out for the match, Palmer-Houlden wasn’t in the line-out, with young midfielder Cruz Beszant out on the pitch instead.

Palmer-Houlden has only recently come into the side following two months out with a hamstring injury - so when he felt a twinge in the warm-up, the management weren’t taking any risks.

They decided to pull him out and he’s due to be assessed later today (Wednesday).

Dobson said: “He felt something just behind his knee in the warm-up so we took him out as a precaution.

“That's not something that we want to risk with Seb.

“We’re obviously delighted to get him back around the fold, and we weren't going to risk anything silly.

“We'll have a look at how that is, see how it settles down and keep our fingers crossed with it.

“The immediate reaction was that we're not going to take that risk.

“We don't know what he’s done at this moment in time. We'll find out.

“We'll allow it to settle down and then we'll assess it. Fingers crossed it's nothing too serious and we'll have him with us, hopefully for the weekend.”

Palmer-Houlden scored his first goal for the club on Saturday in the 3-2 loss at Stadium MK - his third substitute appearance since coming in from a pre-season injury.

Following that goal, Dobson said: “He's got goals in him - he’s a poacher.

“Seb will score, I have no