Gills boss Peter Taylor admitted he was close to resting young midfielder Jake Hessenthaler on Saturday – and in the end he was glad he didn’t.

“I was a little worried about Hessy early on in the game,” said Taylor. “I thought he looked a bit tired and I thought he looked tired against Colchester.

“There was a little bit of me thinking about resting him on Saturday but in the end I went for him.

“In the first 10-15 minutes I was not sure I had made the right decision by playing with him but the longer the game went on he got better.”

Hessenthaler, 19, has started Gillingham’s last eight games.