Gillingham’s B Team players were in the spotlight on Tuesday and they were hoping for a big match tomorrow – but it’s now off.

Three young players made their Gillingham debuts at Portsmouth in the EFL Trophy and others enjoyed a night under the lights at Fratton Park. They were set to play Arsenal on Friday but that game has now been cancelled.

First-team interim boss Keith Millen, who is also running the B Team alongside his duties as the club’s head of academy coaching, said on Tuesday: “At the time when we arranged it we thought, ‘that’s a great fixture for them’. We have tried to get different levels, we have had Brentford, Folkestone, different types of games.”

With around six first-team players injured, Scott Malone suspended, Cheye Alexander on international duty and a couple out on loan, Millen may need a handful of B Team players for their League 2 trip to Walsall on Saturday.

He was going to use some of the club’s junior players for the fixture but it’s one less game he has to consider now.

“I have no worries about pushing players through,” he said. “We just have to be careful with their workload and not give them too much to do.”

On Thursday, Millen added: “It was an exciting fixture to look forward to but they cancelled last minute, for football reasons. In the grand scheme of things I’m probably glad they have because we are a little bit short of players.

“A lot were involved on Tuesday and a lot will be involved next Tuesday (in the Kent Senior Cup at Maidstone) so for them to play Arsenal would have been a big ask. It did us a favour to be cancelled.”

Ike Orji and Matty Macarthur both made their first starts for the club and played 90 minutes against Portsmouth.

Fellow young professionals Ronald Sithole, Josh Chambers, Sam Gale, Alex Giles and youth scholar Stan Skipper all came off the bench, leaving the Gills with an extremely youthful look late in the game. Young forward Kieron Agbebi also travelled with the squad.

The result didn’t go Gillingham’s way, as Portsmouth came on strong in the second half and Millen withdrew senior players to ensure no more injuries were picked up ahead of their weekend league game.

Millen was delighted with the effort shown from the youngsters.

He said: “I asked the B Team boys to be brave and get on the ball and I think we saw that, that is really encouraging, that is what you have to try and coach, that is what the modern game is now.

“Yes, you need to be physically strong and we were probably second best in that respect, but you have to be able to handle the ball, that is what we are trying to bring in.

“I say to the younger players that I would never criticise them if they are brave, as in the challenges, looking for the ball. What I will criticise is if they are hiding, not showing, not being brave, that is when I will get on to them, over time you can see they are having that attitude.”

The youngest player was midfielder Skipper, making his first appearance in the Gillingham senior side.

“I loved the way he wanted the ball,” Millen said.

“He showed composure, he went in for a couple of tackles and he has a bright future. You don’t know until you give them that chance to see how quickly they can progress.”