Gillingham suffered a second successive blank in front of goal at Priestfield as they were beaten by Luton Town on Saturday.
Jordan Clark struck twice for Luton in the opening half at Priestfield before Max Clark had a penalty saved shortly after the turnaround. The match finished 2-0 to the visitors, despite some promising moments for the Gills, particularly in the early stages of the second half.
The game came a week after the Gills and Reading played out a goalless draw at ME7.
Gillingham boss Gareth Ainsworth switched formation for the visit of Luton, opting for a change to a five-man defence, with Shad Ogie, Conor Masterson and Andy Smith in the central roles.
Sam Gale was missing again, as he had been for the training ground match at Southampton in the week. On a positive, there were first sightings of striker Elliott Nevitt and young midfielder Nelson Khumbeni, among the substitutes introduced late on.
Recent Premier League members Luton are preparing for League 1 football this summer after back-to-back relegations, managed by Matty Bloomfield, who was captain at Wycombe under Ainsworth where they enjoyed plenty of success together.
The Gills’ weekend game against Luton was the third of three against higher-league opponents, having lost two 60-minute games at Southampton in the week and drawing 0-0 with Reading the previous weekend.
That extra quality from the opposition has been on show of late, with Jordan – a player who featured for the Hatters in the Premier League – displaying a ruthless nature in front of goal that the Gills didn’t.
Millenic Alli showed pace and quality to create the two first-half goals for Luton.
Gillingham’s best chances of the half fell to Seb Palmer-Houlden. Both he and Joe Gbode were looking to utilise their pace to get in behind the Luton defence.
Shad Ogie threaded a good ball through to Gills striker Palmer-Houlden early on. He cut in but the shot took a deflection and proved easy for James Shea to save.
Andy Smith made a timely challenge to deny Luton’s Nahki Wells but the visitors took a 19th minute lead and they doubled it 10 minutes after that.
The Gills were a goal down when Palmer-Houlden had his second opportunity to score, in the right place to meet Smith’s flick-on, but he nodded the chance straight at the goalkeeper.
Luton’s opener began with a run from Alli, as he drove forward from midfield, first getting past Robbie McKenzie and then Armani Little before finding team-mate Reuell Walters. From his ball in Clark hit a shot into the ground that bounced over Glenn Morris and into the net.
Clark’s second goal was put on a plate for him, with Alli beating Hutton in the box and then pulling the ball back for the striker to sidefoot home.
Ainsworth sent the same eleven out for the second half and they had a chance to immediately get a goal back when Joe Gbode was pushed over in the penalty box.
Max Clark was on penalty duty – as he was under Ainsworth the previous season – but his 47th minute spot-kick wasn’t good enough to beat Shea, who dived to his right to deny the Gills left wing-back.
Another chance came Gills’ way with 55 minutes gone when keeper Shea handled outside the box. He picked up a booking when he prevented the hosts from taking it early.
Dack and Masterson appeared to have a difference of opinion over who was taking the free-kick from the edge of the box. Dack eventually took charge but his effort was sent over the bar.
The Gills maintained some pressure on the Luton goal and Gbode sent a header at Shea while Dack blasted a volley well wide of the mark.
Gillingham kept on going as Luton’s defence was kept busy. Smith headed wide for the home side from Armani Little’s corner and with around 15 minutes left Ainsworth made wholesale changes.
The Gills finished the game back playing with a four-man defence as Nevitt, Khumbeni and Logan Dobbs got their first minutes of pre-season.
Dobbs was partnered with Ethan Coleman as the centre-half pair. With trialist Lenni Cirino and Harry Webster either side and Khumbeni playing defensive midfield, it was a very inexperienced defensive unit.
Jake Turner saved well from Alli as the Luton forward looked to cap a positive first-half performance with a goal late on.
Lasse Nordas also headed wide with Luton looking to make the most of playing against a much-changed Gillingham line-up.
Gillingham: Morris (Turner 68mins), Hutton (Webster 76mins), Clark (Cirino 76mins), Ogie (Dobbs 76mins), Masterson (Khumbeni 76mins), Smith (Coleman 76mins), Little (Nolan 76mins), McKenzie (Wyllie 76mins), Gbode (Nevitt 76mins), Dack (J Williams 68mins), Palmer-Houlden (Andrews 76mins). Subs not used: Waldock, Theodore, Bridle.
Luton Town: Shea, Walters, Naismith, Alli, Clark, Wells (Nordas 64mins), Saville, Baptiste (Walsh 46mins), Makosso, Nelson (Doughty 64mins), Lonwijk (Johnson 64mins). Subs not used: Thomas, Woodrow, Richards, Chigozie, Luker.
Referee: Isaac Searle
Attendance: 1,967 (333 away)
