Gillingham boss Andy Hessenthaler admitted there were plenty of positives to take from their Kent Senior Cup defeat at Welling on Monday.

The Gills fielded a mixture of youth and reserve players as they lost out to an injury time own goal by Bradley Dack.

"I was pleased with the boys," said Hessenthaler. "It wasn't a classic by any means but it was great development for our players against a team who are doing well in their league - and rightly so with the squad they have.

"I'm a bit disappointed for the young lad (Dack) who scored an own goal but we've spoken about the goals we conceded and we need to learn from those situations."

The game had a number of flashpoints with players from both sides fortunate to escape harsher punishment from referee Ian Crouch, who was keen to keep 22 players on the pitch.

Reacting to Stefan Payne's first-half yellow card after a flare-up between Welling's Andy Sambrook and Gills youngster Ashley Miller, Hessenthaler added: "I was happy that Stefan went across and looked after Ash in that situation but you can't be pushing people around. If you raise your hands you are going to get booked.

"It was a little bit of handbags and there was nothing in it; it was just two teams that wanted to do well. Stefan has to learn that it was a cheap booking and he didn't need to do it."

Above: Ashley Miller goes up for a header for Gillingham against Welling Picture: Barry Goodwin