An ex-Gillingham player who had sex with a woman shortly after a former teammate made love to her has been cleared of rape.

Nathan Nyafli and his family showed their relief as the jury of eight men and four women returned the verdict on today.

The prosecution alleged that the former striker was annoyed that the 22-year-old woman had left a Maidstone nightclub with current player Bradley Dack and not him.

She claimed she had fallen asleep after having consensual sex with Mr Dack, 21, and woke up to find Nyafli, then 20, on top of her.

But Nyafli, now 21, of Tollgate Way, Sandling, denied rape, claiming the woman was awake, knew it was him and encouraged him to have sex with her.

A naked Mr Dack was in the corner of the room performing a sex act at the time.

Maidstone Crown Court heard the woman was visiting from the north and had gone out in the town with a friend on May 7 last year.

They ended up at The Source Bar in Rose Yard late in the evening. Also there were Nyafli, Mr Dack, another Gills player Michael Freiter, 19, and a friend.

Prosecutor John O’Higgins said Mr Dack got on well with the woman and she left with him, her friend, and Mr Freiter.

They went to get some food and then travelled in a taxi to the flat in the town which Mr Dack and Mr Freiter had been allowed to use for the night.

Over about 10 hours the woman had drunk a glass of wine, four Desperado beers, two vodka and cokes and a shot of tequila.

She said she was not drunk and on a scale of one to 10 she was about six.

Nyafli, who was forced to retire early from football because of injury, was to rate himself in the same way.

After arriving at the flat Mr Dack and the woman went to a bedroom, where they had sex.

The woman claimed she was “absolutely knackered” and fell into a deep sleep.

Nyafli, meanwhile, told his friend he wanted to “beat her” - a slang word meaning to have sex with her. They went to the flat and Mr Dack was naked as he let them in.

Nyafli asked if he had just had sex. He said he had. He asked where she was and Mr Dack told him she was in the bedroom.

The woman claimed she awoke to find Nyafli having intercourse with her. She said she pushed him off and then complained she had been raped.

She at first told police she had never seen Nyafli before. But after seeing CCTV footage showing them touching and kissing at the nightclub, she agreed she had.

Nyafli claimed in evidence that the woman consented to sex with him and only protested after his former teammate Bradley Dack entered the room naked.

She had agreed in the club, he said, to go to the flat with him.

He was that Mr Dack left without him but not that he had gone with the woman.

He agreed he said he wanted to “beat her”.

He said of what happened in the bedroom: “I got into bed. We started to kiss. I started to do some foreplay. She responded to that. She was aroused. I carried on doing it for five to 10 minutes.”

Nyafli claimed the woman told him to have intercourse with her.

“We had sex,” he said. “Brad entered the room when I was on top of her having sex. I thought ‘Why is he here?’ but I just carried on.

“He came onto the bed. He was unclothed. I didn’t say anything to him. We went into a spoons position. I was behind her and in front of Brad.

“Brad got out of bed and went to the other side and started masturbating. She went to the door where here clothes were. She didn’t say anything.

“I asked her what was wrong. She was adamant she didn’t want to do this. I was confused. She put on her clothes. She left the room and went downstairs.”

Nyafli said the woman’s friend entered the room and accused him of rape.

“I said: ‘No, what - never.’ I told her what happened. She stormed out. I realised an allegation of rape had been made against me. I felt very shocked. I was worried.”