Josh Pritchard made a surprise return to the Gillingham starting XI on Saturday.

The midfielder had missed the last two games after being told to do more to win his place. And his efforts away from the first team led to his recall for the match against Coventry.

Coach Darren Hare recently watched him impress for the development team against MK Dons last Monday and that helped sway the caretaker team into giving him another chance.

Hare said: “We got beat by MK Dons but in the first 45 minutes we were very good, if not the better team, against a very strong MK team. Josh was very much at the centre of all of that.

“His pass completion rate was high and he was getting around the pitch and doing the other side of the game.

"I said to Josh after that game, ‘I am going to tell the (other coaches) you have done great’ and that’s what I did. That message got across and we decided to give Josh a go.”

Pritchard, playing the defensive midfield role, featured for 70 minutes before being replaced by Jermaine McGlashan as the Gills went for broke.

“I thought he did great,” said Hare. “We were chasing the game, we couldn’t have that luxury of a holding midfield player, we needed to change our shape a bit and that was the reason he came off.”