Mark Bentley has been freed up to resume his career in midfield by the arrival of Matt Lawrence.

Bentley (pictured) was only supposed to be acting as emergency cover in central defence, after former boss Mark Stimson first reverted him into Gills’ back-line to replace the injured Simon King, but he ended up playing most of last season there and the start of this campaign.

The signing of Lawrence and the summer arrival of Tony Sinclair now means boss Andy Hessenthaler has more natural defensive options and KM Group columnist Bentley can return to familiar surroundings.

Bentley admitted in Friday’s column that he didn’t perform well in defence against Norwich in the Carling Cup, and Hessenthaler switched him back to a midfield role on Saturday.

The Gills manager said: "I read what Benno said in the paper (Medway Messenger) and he’s a true professional, isn’t he?

"He held his hands up and felt he made mistakes but it wasn’t all down to him.

"What he gives us in midfield is a bit of presence and I thought he had a good game. He’s a midfield player and we’ve got enough defenders now with Matt coming. We have some better options in defence now."

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