Luke Norris made his first start since Boxing Day as Gills boss Justin Edinburgh made a change to his strike-force on Saturday.

But deposed striker John Marquis had done no wrong, insists the manager, who took the decision to rest the on-loan Millwall striker.

Former Brentford striker Norris had been a regular scorer for the development team and Edinburgh was happy to give him a chance.

Edinburgh said: “He (Norris) has been rewarded for what he has been doing on the training ground and in reserve games.

“John has played a lot of football in a short space of time, which he hasn’t done at this level before. I thought he looked a bit tired and you need to be able to rest people and rotate. We will do that between now and the end of the season.

“John hasn’t played poorly that’s for sure, he has seven goals in 14. But he has had 14-15 appearances and all starts. That is a quarter of a season and for a young man to be able to do that I think he needed come out and have a rest.

“I need to look at everyone in the squad between now and the end of the season, because there are decisions to be made here, but on the other side the players deserved the chance.

“Luke Norris has been playing very well in development games and I felt changes were needed. They have played a lot of football in a short space of time.”