Danny Jackman and Adam Birchall were among the players to miss out in Gillingham’s matchday squad on Saturday but boss Martin Allen insists everyone is playing their part.

He said: "There are a lot of players but I try and talk to them all and explain to them what I am doing. It’s all nice getting awards but everyone is on a level playing field.

"They all get treated exactly the same. The young ones are exactly the same as the older ones and they get treated fairly, treated well.

"We train hard but there is a lovely honesty about the whole group.

"They care for each other, they look after each other and we have not got one bad apple. We have not got one where you think, ‘oh my god he is a pain in the backside, he is high maintenance.’ They are all decent people.

"We all train together every day and we have about 21 or 22 players training out on that pitch. They don’t have to go to another area of the training ground, we are all together. In the dressing room, even those players who weren’t on the bench were with us (on Saturday) and that is significant to me and means a lot.

"I have to make those decisions. You can’t get everyone into the team but there are ways of treating people and talking to them if they are not playing or going to be in it.

"If you have open and honest communication the players respect it."