Justin Edinburgh admitted the injury to Scott Wagstaff put a dampener on his side’s trip to Billericay.

The Gills drew the match 1-1 at a club where Edinburgh started out his management career.

It was another good exercise for the Gills but was overshadowed by an injury to Wagstaff. He went off with a calf related injury, just eight minutes after coming on as a second half sub, and will undergo a scan on Thursday.

Reacting to the performance, boss Justin Edinburgh said: “We are looking at it as a fitness exercise and it was more about attitude and application.

“The pitch wasn’t cohesive to passive but that is not always going to be the case. We had to find another route and it is another challenge for us.

“Apart from a five minute spell, where Nelson had to pull some saves off, we were in possession a lot of the time. We got minutes under the players’ belt but the downside is we picked up another knock, to Scott Wagstaff and that puts a bit of a dampener on it.

“We will have to assess that and get a scan straight away. That is disappointing.

“We got more minutes into individuals and that takes us into some games against league opposition now coming up, which is where you look to stamp your authority and for the players to start stepping up and to stake a claim for the start of the season.

“The games have to be competitive and that’s the way it’s going to be on the first game of the season. It’s not going to be rolling it out and stroking it across the back four, it is going to competitive and frantic and that is the nature of it and the purpose of these games.

“The surface could have been better but you have to overcome that with an attitude and application and we did that so all tests were overcome.”

Nelson did make a flurry of saves around the 20-minute mark before Bradley Dack opened the scoring. The Gills were playing a defence full of trialists.

Edinburgh said: "Nelson had to make some standard saves. We looked a little loose and erratic at times but that is understandable.

"You are trying to give people an opportunity who haven’t played together before and it is quite evident we need to get some bodies fit in the defensive area and reinforcements."