Gillingham manager Neil Harris hailed the impact of the players called upon from the bench as Wimbledon were beaten late on in Tuesday’s cup game.

Mikael Mandron and Jordan Green scored late goals as Gillingham beat the Dons 2-0 in the first round of the Carabao Cup at Plough Lane.

• Report: Wimbledon 0 Gillingham 2

Harris said: “I was delighted for the lads that came on and impacted the game, it is the modern game, they are game-changers, not subs. Bringing on Mika Mandron and Jordan Green and also Ben Reeves, it is not a bad trio to bring on.

“We are still trying to add to the group and we feel we need options. We were missing Stuart O’Keefe and Dom Jefferies which didn’t enable us to put one of them on and leave Ben Reeves a little higher and have another threat going forward.

“I want Mika to score goals and give him the confidence to find all sorts of goals and the composure, the finish, both goals were quality goals. Two great finishes. I am delighted for them.

“I have talked to the group a lot over the last nine weeks that we have to find ways (to win). I said at the end, whether we scored in the ninth minute as we did Saturday (in the 1-0 win over Rochdale) and then should go and get three or four, or wait to the 90th, it is about finding ways to win games.

“I have to praise the goalkeeper (Jake Turner) who I thought was excellent and the back line to get a clean sheet but also at the top end of the pitch. I have managed the players, I wouldn’t normally take Shaun Williams off at 65 minutes in a tight game and put an attacking midfielder (Reeves) in a deeper role but I am trying to give people fair minutes and manage them going into a three-game week next week.

“We looked good in patches, were slightly off it in patches, we scored an extremely good goal that was disallowed, we should have had a penalty, it was clear-cut and Lewis Walker nine times out of 10 puts that ball in the back of the net (from an early opportunity that was missed).

“For the times we gave the ball away or didn’t play particularly well, we had key moments in the game and I thought we deserved to win it.”

New co-chairman Paul Fisher was in the crowd watching, while engaging with fans during the night on social media, and wrote on twitter: “(It’s) early days but nice to see the team starting to come together and gain some momentum. Great support from the fans away on a Tuesday night in Wimbledon.”