Lenni Cirino apologised to his Gillingham team-mates after his sending off on Tuesday night – but the team’s acting manager said there was no need.

The young left-sided player picked up a first booking in the match against Colchester for a foul on 71 minutes in the EFL Trophy match at Colchester United and was red-carded 17 minutes later after being cautioned for another foul.

Cirino’s dismissal came during a difficult spell for the Gills, as they had just conceded an equalising goal, and then in stoppage-time against ten men, the hosts won the match from the penalty spot.

Richard Dobson, who is in temporary charge of the team, spoke after the game about the lessons learned for many of the young players on show and it was certainly the case for Cirino - who had set up the opener for Sam Vokes before the home side fought back.

“He's apologised but I said to him, ‘You don't need to apologise’,” said Gillingham’s stand-in boss.

“You need to learn from the experience. He said straight away, ‘Maybe when I'm on a booking, I shouldn't have gone in and made the tackle. He's a lively player I'm up against’.

“I said, ‘Well, there you go. That's the learning. But I'm not disappointed with you because you show a bit of grit and determination. I like your spirit. I just want you to learn a little bit about when and where and the circumstances of the game’.

“It's one for him to think about, and hopefully he learns from it and it doesn't happen when it's in a game that could cost us a league game, maybe later in the season.”

Cirino joined the Gills in the summer on a “short-term deal” but he’s had to be patient for his opportunities.

He came off the bench at MK Dons at the weekend and his lively performance caught the eye.

Once again on Tuesday he was full of energy and his cross/shot from Remeao Hutton’s ball forward was met by Sam Vokes to score the opening goal in the midweek match.

Dobson has seen improvements in the 22-year-old’s game.

“He's improving the defensive side of his game, which I'm really happy about,” said the Gills coach.

“We know his quality going forward. We know he's got good pace. We like him. I like his spirit.

“But as a left-sided player or certainly as a left-back, he needs to be exposed against players with the pace that he was up against [on Tuesday night].

“Owura Edwards, for example, gives top players in this league a difficult time with his pace so for Lenni to go one v one against him was great.

“I think he's going to learn a lot from the game and he's getting closer and closer all the time.”