Manager Neil Harris was pleased with the way his young players coped at Sunderland after turning to the youth team for reinforcements.

The Gillingham boss had limited options for Saturday’s match, starting teenager Josh Chambers for the first time and introducing fellow youth player Bailey Akehurst off the bench.

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It’s wasn’t ideal, especially against a side of Sunderland’s stature in League 1, but it was needs must.

“I was delighted for Josh,” Harris said of the 18-year-old midfielder, speaking after their 1-0 loss. “I didn’t tell him until just before midday that he was playing because I didn’t want him to over think it.

“We were forced to play him because of personnel that weren’t available, we are miles apart as football clubs when you look at the benches and the starting elevens, but my players competed.

“Bailey came off the bench as well. We are asking kids to do men’s jobs at the moment and I thought Josh was exceptional in his attitude, he has a real personality, character and that is why I played him. We were really pleased with him.

"Josh did a really good job for us, and you have to put it into context, he has made his first start at The Stadium of Light as an 18-year-old infront of 31,000 and that is quite a daunting thought.

"Hopefully he has a long career in the game and a successful future with us, when he looks back it will be a surreal one to think his league debut was infront of over 30,000 at Sunderland and a team in my opinion that in the next few years will go from strength to strength and will sooner or later find their way back to the Premier League.

Akehurst had been an unused substitute in Gillingham’s previous three games and came on for the last few minutes of the game at The Stadium of Light.

Harris said: “They have both trained extremely well since I have been at the club, but you don’t want to go to Sunderland away and rely on a youth team player to play and a youth team player to come off the bench when you are backs to the wall. That is where we are as a club, I have spoken openly about it before, I don’t want to go over old ground, I can only ask them to do men’s jobs and they equipped themselves really well.”

Senior player Ben Reeves was named on the bench and came on with 15 minutes left. He has just returned from injury and didn’t have 90 minutes in him.

“It was too dangerous to start him,” the manager admitted. “He hasn’t played a lot of football this season, he hasn’t trained a lot over the course of the last eight months. He certainly wouldn’t have got past 55-60 minutes, sometimes you have to take it on the chin that you can’t pick a team that you want to pick and you have to be patient for the week after.”