Head coach Ady Pennock was delighted with the way keeper Tomas Holy responded to his first Gillingham set-back.

Czech goalkeeper Holy came under criticism following MK Dons’ late winner a fortnight ago, after missing the ball with an attempted punch, but he responded with a solid display at the weekend.

Holy was beaten once by Millwall but denied the promotion chasers on numerous occasions.

Pennock, who made Holy his first signing after taking over at Gillingham in January, said: “He has moved on and he was excellent.

“He is a good lad, he is still learning his trade and he has got very good tools. What he does, he does well.

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“He will make mistakes, like he did the other week, but it shows what a talent he is, to put that to one side and play well.

“It is early days for him, that was only his third full start, but he has a good teacher in Ian Pledger (the goalkeeper coach) and he will have a good future.”

The 25-year-old signed a two and a half year deal with the Gills after joining from Sparta Prague.

He had to bide his time before getting a chance, eventually replacing Stuart Nelson between the sticks to make his debut at home to Peterborough. He was on course for a clean sheet before conceding in the final minute.

The 3-2 defeat against MK Dons followed that.

Pennock said: “The boy cares, we are all human beings and he was hurt by that. He missed a punch but the people that went to the MK Dons game will have seen him make three or four saves before that.

“He is a young man learning his trade and he has good teachers in Pledge and Nels and he can only get better.

“He showed a lot of character with the performance he put on.”