Gillingham midfielder Henry Woods has exceeded the expectation of the club’s management.

Woods was earmarked for a loan move out of the club at the start of the season but his performances, along with a handful of injuries to more senior players, meant that was put on the backburner.

The 21-year-old has started both group games in the EFL Trophy as well as the Carabao Cup game at Stoke City. He’s been on the bench in all of the other matches this season apart from at Shrewsbury on Saturday, when he travelled as a reserve.

He might not have featured had the Gills not suffered a run of injuries to midfielder personnel but assistant boss Paul Raynor has been pleased with the player’s progress regardless.

He said: “We were 100% thinking that Henry was going to go out and play senior football elsewhere on loan until Christmas or January and see if he was ready to push his way into the first team. He has taken those thoughts away from us at the moment.

“That might change as the weeks go on but at the moment he is knocking on the door to be involved every week and that is fantastic for Henry because he has come on leaps and bounds since coming back pre-season.”

Woods signed an extended deal in the summer to keep him at the club for another year. Manager Steve Evans described his performance against Stoke City as “excellent” in what was his first real start in a senior competition for the club.

With the likes of Scott Robertson, Matty Willock and Kyle Dempsey returning to fitness he will be pushed further down the pecking order and he could yet move out on loan, but he’s done himself no harm in the eyes of the current regime.

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