​Gillingham 1 Hearts 2

CHANCES are Gills boss Andy Hessenthaler will not have lost any sleep over the pre-season friendly defeat handed out by Scottish Premier outfit Hearts.

But then he shouldn’t need to because there were a good deal more positives than negatives to be had against a side which paraded six full internationals.

Two of them scored the goals, Lithuanian Arvdas Novikovas barely 60 seconds after Luke Rooney’s eighth pre-season goal - a 50th minute penalty - had given Gills the lead and Algerian Ismael Bouzid with a stunning header seven minutes from time.

Among the positives for Hessy will have been the performance of Josh Gowling in defence for the entire game and of Danny Spiller, Chris Palmer and Jack Payne in midfield during the first half and the sight of new signing Adebayo Akinfenwa in a Gills shirt for the final 25 minutes.

A big Gills shirt because he’s a big old unit is Adebayo. Hessy signed him on a one year contract from Northampton, where he scored 17 goals in 42 league games last season.

He looked a bit short on match fitness, but you could equally see he will be a strong force up front when Gills need that option in the months to come.

Mark McCammon also made his first pre-season appearance and played alongside Akinfenwa.

With little over a week before the League 2 campaign gets under way, Hessy’s squad is nearing completion. If this game was anything to go by they’ll be more than a match for most of the oppos they’ll be up against.