Aveley 1 Gillingham 0

Mark Bentley made his first appearance of the pre-season campaign as Gillingham lost to Aveley on Tuesday night.

The Gills were playing their second game in 24 hours and manager Mark Stimson fielded a mixture of trialists and youngsters for the match.

Bentley (pictured), who missed the start of pre-season with a groin injury, was joined in the starting eleven by young senior players Tom Wynter, Jack Payne, Luis Cumbers and Andy Pugh.

Youth keeper Darren Hawkes was also included, as were trialists Sam Long, Rashed Yussuff, Rimmel Daniel, Emmanuel Udoji and forward Moses Ashikodi.

Ahikodi played against Gillingham for Shrewsbury in May’s League 2 play-off final at Wembley and also spent a brief period on loan at Priestfield earlier in his career.

Daniel, who was released from the Gillingham youth team at the end of last season, has just returned from the Gold Cup after appearing for Grenada while Udoji was recently at Rushden.

Udoji has also spent time at Glenn Hoddle’s football academy, which aims to get professional footballers back in the game after being released by clubs. The 20-year-old was formerly with Portsmouth.

Bentley was replaced by another trialist, Nathan Ashton. The former Charlton youngster left Wycombe in the summer after agreeing to terminate his contract.

Aveley won the match with a goal on 68 minutes when Ellie Kayembe converted Sam Holloway’s cross.

The Gills had numerous chances but were unable to make the most of them.

Gills: Hawkes, Long, Daniel, Udoji, Wynter, Payne, Bentley, Yussuff, Cumbers, Pugh, Ashikodi.