Gillingham boss Steve Lovell was delighted with how his defenders handled Charlton dangerman Lyle Taylor.

The striker failed to add to his goal tally on Saturday, having got 13 so far this season.

“Alex Lacey did a great job,” said Lovell.

“Lyle Taylor is a very good centre-forward, one of the best in the league, and I thought for the majority of the time they (the defence) handled him well.

“He is a quality player and to keep players like that at arm’s length is quite difficult, but they did it quite well.”

Gillingham couldn’t keep them all quiet, however, with Ben Reeves opening the scoring after just six minutes.

“When Charlton got a goal it gave them a lift,” said Lovell.

“We could have easily sat back and thought, ‘the game is over’, but we don’t do that, we show character and roll our sleeves up and have a go.

“I still believe that if we could have nicked one with 15 minutes left we might have got another. It wasn’t to be, but I was happy with the performance.”

Home boss Lee Bowyer was glad his team weren’t facing Gills’ leading scorer Tom Eaves.

Bowyer had talked up Eaves pre-match, saying how the Gills relied on him, and he was glad to see the striker’s name absent when the teamsheets were handed in.

“They missed their striker,” he said.

“He is a very good player, top goalscorer in the league. Maybe we were lucky he didn’t play.

“Of course (we were happy he didn’t play), he is a threat. I knew they would have threats elsewhere but when we haven’t had Lyle for a couple of games, we aren’t the same side.”