Gillingham conceded two late goals and had a player sent off as they were beaten by Colchester United in the Vertu Trophy.

Sam Vokes opened the scoring for Gillingham but Colchester equaliser late on through Micah Mbick. The Gills finished with 10 men after Lenni Cirino was dismissed for a second bookable offence and the home side completed a comeback 2-1 win as Arthur Read scored a stoppage-time penalty.

Caretaker manager Richard Dobson made nine changes to the team which started in League 2 at MK Dons on the Saturday.

Strikers Vokes was making his first Gills start in competitive action while Watford loan defender Travis Akomeah was also included from the off.

Lenni Cirino looked decent off the bench at the weekend and got another chance to impress, as did young centre-half Logan Dobbs - scorer of the opener in a 4-1 win over Fulham under-21s in the earlier Trophy match.

Attacking midfielder Cruz Beszant was a late change to the team as he replaced Seb Palmer-Houlden in the XI.

Weekend goalscorer Palmer-Houlden has been named to start but didn’t play any part in the game.

Max Clark captained the Gills and played in a defensive midfield role alongside Nelson Khumbeni. Cirino and Remeao Hutton played as wing-backs.

Both teams won their opening games of the group stage and served up an entertaining first 45 minutes. It was a surprise that there was only one goal in it at the break.

Colchester went closest early on when Akomeah had to clear Samson Tovide’s effort off the line but at the other end Clark crashed a 25-yard volley off the upright.

With 15 minute played the Gills went ahead. Hutton’s cross was knocked back across goal by the lively Cirino into the path of Vokes and the former Wales international made no mistake in front of goal.

Vokes came close to a second soon after when Hutton dropped a ball over the top into his path but the shot was put wide.

Tovide somehow put a shot wide from a yard out for Colchester after getting on the end of a Rob Hunt cross and he had another couple of efforts that were blocked.

Clark had a shot cleared off the line by former Gills defender Jack Tucker, who was captaining the home side.

The Gills took a one-goal advantage into the break.

Vokes went off after 45 minutes to be replaced for Andrews, a substitution with a weekend game against Cheltenham Town in mind.

Gills keeper Jake Turner had to be alert to save from Owura Edwards early in the second half.

Former Cray Valley winger Kyreece Lisbie was introduced after the hour mark to try and turn things around for Colchester, while Dobson made several changes for the Gills, with youngsters Harry Waldock and Harry Bridle getting minutes.

Right-sided wide-man Lisbie forced Turner into a good save as he ran at goal before unleashing a shot. They also had pace out on the left flank to keep Dobbs occupied.

Colchester were creating plenty of chances and Turner had to make another good save to keep out an effort from Harvey Araujo.

Dobbs went close to scoring for the Gills late on but Colchester equalised on 85 minutes through Mbick, as he converted a cross from Lisbie.

Cirino’s night ended early as he picked up a second booking shortly after the Colchester United goal, both of his cautions coming from fouls.

On 91 minutes Colchester were awarded a penalty after Bridle fouled Arhur Reid inside the box. The man who went down fired home into the top corner from the spot to complete the turnaround and win it for the home side.

Gillingham: Turner, Hutton (Rowe 64mins), Cirino, Akomeah, Ogie, Dobbs, Clark (Dayal 83mins), Khumbeni (Waldock 64mins), Beszant, Wyllie (Bridle 64mins), Vokes (Andrews 46mins). Sub not used: Holtam.

Colchester: Smith, Hunt, Tucker (Araujo 46mins), Tovide (Mbick 46mins), Payne (Read 46mins), Gordon (Lisbie 64mins), Williams, Edwards (Anderson 74mins), Powell, Juffour, Harvey. Subs not used: Chamberlain, Vincent-Young.

Referee: Carl Brook

Attendance: 1,467 (132 away)