The return of captain Kyle Dempsey was a plus for Gillingham on Saturday but he limped his way to the finish at MK Dons.

Dempsey had missed the last four league matches after picking up an ankle injury in the opening-day defeat to Hull City. He was back in the starting line-up for the Gills but suffered a knock late on.

Gillingham will need to assess the seriousness of the bruising before considering him for selection in Tuesday night’s match at home to Portsmouth.

“I thought he was the best player on the pitch until he got his knock,” said Gills boss Evans.

“He is a top player for this level and his performance stood out.

“The boy (from MK Dons) has just blocked him hasn’t he? There was no intent.

“I am just hoping he is alright. It will be a couple of days before we know.”

Gillingham had the luxury of players who were fit but not in the side on Saturday, an improvement on earlier in the season, when they couldn’t fill the bench.

Tom O’Connor was among those at MK but didn’t feature. He has been away with the Republic of Ireland under-21s but never got any action in their European Championship qualifier against Italy on Tuesday.

O’Connor has had limited time on the pitch this season, with just one EFL Trophy appearance for Southampton before playing 77 minutes in Gills’ game at Shrewsbury two week ago. With such little action, Evans was reluctant to involve him on Saturday.

Henry Woods was in the travelling party but missed out. Matty Willock was also at StadiumMK and is back in training after a hamstring injury but the Gills are easing him back in.

Jacob Mellis was a miss, having impressed the week before against Oxford United.

“It was a shame about Mellis,” said Evans.

“We worked on the team for two days with him in it but he phoned in on Saturday morning with a tummy bug and he was out.”

Read more on the Gills;

Match Report: Gills second best at MK Dons

Reaction: Evans blasts officials over penalty decision