Teenage forward Matty Macarthur made his Gillingham senior debut on Tuesday night as a reward for his continued improvement within the B team set-up.

Sydney-born teenager Macarthur signed a pro deal in the summer for the Gills and was a standout performer during Friday night’s match for the youngsters at Phoenix Sports, impressing watching head of academy coaching Keith Millen.

Striker Ronald Sithole recently made his first senior appearance in the League up at Luton and it was Macarthur’s chance this week to make his bow for the Gills, coming on as a late substitute in the EFL Trophy game against Leyton Orient.

First team boss Neil Harris said: “It is nice for him, nice for his family and the football club, it is nice for the lads who are in that B team group with him. It is nice for the lads in the younger age group to see that development.

“We’ve exposed Joe Gbode, Josh Chambers and Ronald Sithole at Luton to a little bit of first-team opportunity but they have to prove their worth every day, to make sure they get that opportunity.

“If it comes through luck because there is an injury, then so be it, but it is down to them to have the opportunity.

“Matty was the one who made an impact, he had a difficult pre-season with injury, he had a really strong pre-season last year and then got injured. We have just seen in the last couple of weeks he has stepped up again and Keith Millen said that on Friday he was excellent against Phoenix Sports in the B team game and that’s why he got some minutes.”

Macarthur played for Western Sydney Wanderers in Australia before moving to England and joining the youth academy at Southampton, later taking up the offer of a scholarship at Gillingham.

Gillingham won their friendly match against Phoenix Sports 3-1 last Friday with goals from Kieron Agbebi (2) and Kai Garrett.