Gillingham’s midweek Carabao Cup game at AFC Wimbledon gave manager Neil Harris the opportunity to try out a possible plan to take to Tranmere.

It’s the first time since last season that he’s used wing-backs, in a 3-5-2 formation. He’s previously admitted it’s not his favoured set-up, but it got the Gills a result in their Tuesday night cup game and it’s food for thought ahead of their trip to the Wirral on Saturday.

He said: “I didn’t have an opportunity in pre-season to try a different shape, we didn’t have the numbers, the personnel or the opportunity to do it, so I felt that was really important for us to look at a 3-5-2 shape going into Tranmere away.

“It was a little off the cuff, we relied upon some experience in the team that could change shape. We walked through it on Monday and went through some video work. It was not ideal, you want to play through it a few times. But I felt it was a shape we needed to look at and it was a shape that suited the players.

“Tranmere will be playing 3-5-2 at the weekend, as a lot of teams do in the division. It is something we have to think about for the future.”

Tranmere have lost both of their opening League 2 fixtures, beaten 2-1 on the opening day by Steve Evans’ Stevenage and 1-0 at Mansfield on Saturday. They beat Accrington on penalties in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday after coming from 2-0 down.

For the Gills, they have bounced back from their 2-0 opening-day loss at AFC Wimbledon by beating Rochdale 1-0 on Saturday and gaining revenge over the Dons in the League Cup.

Harris is pleased with the progress, saying: “It is not just about the two wins and two clean sheets, it is about the group as well.

“I was very clear after the league game against AFC Wimbledon that we shouldn’t get carried away with a win or a defeat and I still won’t, even though we have won two in a row.

“I see good signs in the group, I see really good characters, I see development in senior players as well as the young ones. I feel that I have to get the right tactics, the right formation and the right team selection but we have the ability to find ways to win.

“We have certainly made strides since the opening games but we need to remember that in the opening game there was nothing between the two teams.

“We shot ourselves in the foot twice. On Tuesday, we stayed in the game when we had little quieter spells, kept a clean sheet mentality and then we found the match-winning moments.”