Gillingham’s youngest professionals made a positive impact off the bench on Tuesday night against Brighton under-21s.

Dom Jefferies, Bailey Akehurst, Joe Gbode and the returning Josh Chambers were all introduced in the second half of Gills’ Papa John’s Trophy group stage match at Priestfield.

They did themselves no harm, said the assistant manager David Livermore.

“For those youngsters, it was an opportunity to impress, and I thought they did,” said the Gills No.2.

“Chambo came on and settled the game down for us, got on the ball and gave us a little bit of drive, as did DJ (Jefferies). Young Joe came on and put their centre-half on his backside straight away, which is what we want.

“We want young lads to come on and make an impact, they certainly did that. They gave the gaffer a little nudge and said, ‘look I am here, if needed.’”

The centre-half pairing of Elkan Baggott and Will Wright are inexperienced too. Wright has played plenty of games in non-league but he is new to the EFL while Ipswich loan man Baggott is only 19.

Livermore said: “They will be disappointed with the goals [conceded] and their contribution to them but in general a lot of their play was good and again, two good players who have bright futures ahead of them, certainly Elkan at 19.

“We saw something in Will at Dagenham, lots to work on, we are doing that with him but we still think he is a player that could go beyond League 2 if he listens and he learns and if he learns from his errors quickly.”

Jefferies, 20, joined the Gills from Brentford this summer on a free transfer. He made his debut for the Gills on the opening day of the season at Wimbledon but picked up an injury. He got minutes in the EFL Trophy at Charlton on August 31 but his quad injury got the better of him again. Tuesday’s appearance was his first since then.

He’s a newcomer to playing senior men’s football but showed plenty of aggression.

“He is a bit of a throwback from that point of view,” said Livermore. “It is pleasing to have him back, it is unfortunate that we haven’t been able to work with him or select him since the first game, he came back (at Charlton) and got a re-injury which was disappointing, but it is important we build him back up slowly and increase his minutes.

"Next Tuesday (against Colchester in the final Trophy group match) is another opportunity to do that but we need him up to speed because he is a talented lad. He has a bright future, he wants to learn and get on with his football career, long may that continue.”