One of the few plus points from last night’s 4-1 defeat at Gillingham was the impact made by debutant Antony Evans. After receiving the necessary International clearance following his loan move from German side SC Paderborn, the 22-year-old was named on the substitutes’ bench at the Priestfield Stadium.

With Crewe Alexandra out of the contest with 15 minutes remaining, boss David Artell introduced the former Everton midfielder and he provided the assist for Chris Porter’s goal. Evans also had a chance to mark his debut with a goal after combining superbly with fellow loanee Stephen Walker - but he shot wide of the far post.

Artell said of Evans’ late impact: “It was a consolation goal for us but it was one of our better moves. It was a bright moment from us.

“I thought Antony was very good when he came onto the pitch. He was one of the few positives from the game.

“It was our first real chance to have a real look at him and what we saw was promising.

“Stephen (Walker) also did fine but we know what he can do. We expect him to have an impact like that. When he played that one-two with Antony and he whistled his shot past the post, it was encouraging to see from two new players for us. It was another bright move that could have seen us score and it is important that those two lads hit the ground running.

“We were pleased with the way they had an impact when coming on.”