On-loan Gills keeper Jamie Cumming is still getting expert advice from European Cup winners Chelsea.

The 21-year-old impressed on loan at Stevenage last season, and is already looking an assured presence between the sticks for Gillingham in League 1.

But he’s never far away from his parent club while out on loan, as the Premier League giants keep close tabs on their young star which includes analysing his performances.

“Chelsea help me with that,” said Cumming. “They’ll send me through clips. Obviously Gills’ management will help me as well but Chelsea are quite involved in that.

“They have people watching every game so they’ll show me areas I can improve which helps quite a lot.

“(The aim is) to come here, get experience and play games. I may make mistakes along the way but I want to be as consistent as I can and really man up and play for a League One team that needs to get results week in, week out.”

There is going to be an obvious step-up between the level Cumming featured at last season compared to this campaign.

Perhaps the biggest will be travelling to some of the big clubs that League 1 has to offer.

But the keeper believes that the style of play in both divisions is fairly similar.

“I think (the step up) will be gradual,” added Cumming.

“The leagues are similar in the way teams play, but in this league there are obviously nine or ten massive clubs and that’s the main difference going away to those clubs.

“I’m sure I’ll see that level increase throughout the season but for me it’s just about focusing myself and if I keep putting the performances in that’s all I can do.

“I haven’t had loads to do in the games. It’s obviously getting used to kicking the ball longer many times in the game, which is something I am not used to. That will get better, and has got better through the three games, my handling’s been good and I’ve felt confident.

“I’m in competition with Chappy (Aaron Chapman) who is a good experienced keeper, whoever plays the best will play. It’s down to me to keep the shirt now, I’m feeling confident and feel that I’ve started well so I just need to keep that going.

“We know it’s a tough league this year. We’ve got a small squad, we’ve got injuries and we need to work harder than any other team, that’s the way to get results, and we know if we do that then we do have quality in the team to get results in this league.”

Gills produced a last-gasp equaliser when Harvey Lintott's cross-shot was deflected into his own net by Paul Kalambayi to salvage a 1-1 draw at AFC Wimbledon.

The celebrations in front of their own fans behind the goal was not missed by Cumming, who ran from the other end of Plough Lane to join in the celebrations.

"Last year I played without fans, and with fans now it makes such a difference," he said.

"Maybe if the fans aren't here we don't push forward and get that last-minute goal. It was brilliant to celebrate with them at the end.

"That's what Gillingham teams are about, we never give up and we play to the end. Harvey has done brilliant in pre-season, it was brilliant to see him get up (there). I don't know if it was his goal but we'll give it to him.

"It wasn't the best performance but as a team we dug in deep, we got the late goal and it was great to see the fans back - that's what football is all about. The feeling at the end was great but overall we're disappointed as we know we can play a lot better than that, and we need to play a lot better than that.

"It's frustrating. We know we need to not sit back like that and invite pressure. I know we were down to 10 men but before that we got pinned back a bit, similar to Plymouth, so we know what we need to work on. We need to press the ball a bit more, we can't let teams have wave after wave."

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