Gills boss Steve Lovell will have a count up of his squad before deciding who to pick for the trip to Portsmouth.

Captain Gabriel Zakuanu picked up a shoulder injury at the weekend, while midfielders Dean Parrett, Mark Byrne and Regan Charles-Cook are already in the treatment room.

Lovell said: “I will see how it is on Monday, when I see how everyone is. There are a couple of boys with knocks and feeling muscles and hamstrings.

“I want to put out the strongest side we can, we will assess it and pick a team Monday.

“We want to put out a team that will perform and put in a good performance.

"I will pick a side that I feel will represent us, it will be a good side that will go out and give everything and respect the competition as we all do. It might be an opportunity for some of the younger players to play, that might be the case, but we will see.”

Midfielder Josh Rees could get more minutes after making his Gills debut on Saturday as a second half sub.

“I thought he did well,” said Lovell, when asked about his performance.

“He will be good for us and it was nice to get him on for half an hour,”

The Gills won all of their group matches in the competition last season before losing to Oxford United in round two. Also in the Gills’ pool for the first round of the competition are Tottenham under-21s and Crawley Town in Southern Group A.

Drawn games in the group stages will be settled by a penalty shootout with the winning team gaining an additional point. There are three points for an outright win.