By Luke Cawdell

Manager Andy Hessenthaler has admitted Gillingham were pipped to the post by Crawley for the signing of striker Wesley Thomas.

The Gills boss held talks with the forward who scored 19 times for Cheltenham last season.

"He scored a lot of goals last season but I don’t think we even got to the stage of talking money," said Hessenthaler.

"He had a great offer from them (Crawley), he is a young lad with a young family and you can’t blame the lad for joining them."

Cheltenham chairman Paul Baker described the financial deal which Thomas (pictured) received at Crawley as "staggering".

The Gills were also in the market for Wycombe attacker Jon-Paul Pittman several weeks ago but he opted to move closer to his home in Oxford.

"We have other targets and we move on," said Hessenthaler. "We spoke to a couple like Pitman and Thomas.

"Pitman was a bit awkward, as Oxford were right on his doorstep, while Thomas has got a fantastic deal".