The Football League have reacted to criticism of the Capital One Cup draw by Gills chairman Paul Scally.

Mr Scally penned an open letter to the league, questioning the logic of Gillingham travelling 250-plus miles for a first round match.

Read his letter in full here.

The Gills were drawn against Plymouth in a regionalised draw, split north and south.

A Football League spokesman said: “The Capital One Cup is a national cup competition in which clubs are expected to play anywhere in the country if required with selected matches also being broadcast to a national and international audience.

"This might mean a trip to Plymouth for Gillingham in this instance, but it could also mean a lucrative tie against a club like Manchester United or Liverpool in a later round.

"For example, in last season's competition Gillingham hosted Newcastle United - a return journey of 600 miles - in the second round of the competition. The match attracted a crowd of more than 10,000 and generated a significant amount of income for the club following its win over Yeovil Town in the first round - a return journey of 350 miles.

"The first round draw is both seeded and regionalised. Teams are placed into seeded and unseeded groups based on their final table standings from the 2014/15 season.

“The 36 seeded and 36 unseeded teams are then regionalised into Northern and Southern regional splits in an attempt to reduce travel distances where possible.

"At present this regional split remains at a justifiable level and is balanced in a way that reduces large scale midweek travel for the majority of clubs while maintaining the unpredictability of the draw and a national element to the competition.

“In this season's first round, 27 of the 36 scheduled ties (75%) have travelling distances of under 125 miles. However such is the nature of a national competition that longer distance ties such as Plymouth Argyle in the south west versus Gillingham in the south east are still a possibility".