Former Gillingham youth player Harvey Lintott could be playing against his old team this weekend when Northampton Town come to Priestfield.

Lintott progressed through the academy at the Gills and into the first team, playing 11 games for the club, but was released in the summer by manager Neil Harris. A lack of funds meant he was reluctant to carry any players who he wasn’t sure were going to be heavily involved in the first team. Lintott played only once under Harris last season as a substitute at Charlton.

The versatile youngster wasn’t short of options when he left. Former Gills boss Steve Evans - who gave him his debut - was keen for him to go to Stevenage but Lintott had already agreed to a deal with Northampton.

It’s proved a good move for the 19-year-old, involved in 16 of their 17 League 2 matches and starting 12 of them.

Lintott's progress has pleased Harris who admitted he would have kept the player at Priestfield if they had a B team to keep fringe players active.

“Definitely I would have kept him,” he said. “I hadn’t been in the building that long and you have to let players go that maybe just need a change. (It’s) no surprise seeing Harvey playing this year, in League 2.

“He is a good athlete, a cracking lad, (and I) really enjoyed working with him."

Lintott made his senior Gills debut against Crawley in the Carabao Cup, scoring the winning penalty in a shootout. Originally from Barham, just outside of Canterbury, the player had been with the Gills from the age of 12.

“It will take time to see where his level will be," Harris added. "Is he going to be a pro for the next 10 years or not? We will have to see, but I am really pleased for him. He is a really good boy, just another reason you need that infrastructure at a football club, to make sure you don’t have to loan players out or lose players just because they want or need a change.”

Gillingham's 19-year-old midfielder Josh Chambers, meanwhile, has played a couple of games for Worthing after joining them on loan last week.

“I am chuffed for him,” said Harris. “He has played two 90 minutes already, a 0-0 draw and a 1-0 win, really pleased.

“He has made an impact and an impression on the group with the new players we got in, certainly made an impression on me last year.

"He is not going to affect the group today enough for minutes on the pitch to warrant him being here. If he is not going to warrant those minutes on the pitch we need him out for a period to play men’s football. He has gone to Worthing and I am absolutely delighted he has gone there. It's a good home for him."

Harris also revealed that teenage striker Joe Gbode has gone back on loan to Hastings.

He said: "We have had him on the bench in the last few games but he hasn’t gone on, because he is not quite ready.

“It goes back to having players on the bench that aren’t quite ready for us and need to play regular men’s football, whether that’s for 28 days or three months, we make the assessment as we go along but it is not just about what we want today, it is about those players developing, we need those players to come through for this football club.”