Ady Pennock's Gills suffer narrow loss at stadium:mk.
Gillingham are still looking for their first win of the season after losing 1-0 to MK Dons on Saturday.
Osman Sow netted on his debut for the club shortly after the break, with two penalties missed in the closing stages in a lively second half.
Sub Kieran Agard saw his effort saved by Tomas Holy before Josh Wright had the perfect chance to claim a point, but sent his spot-kick over.
Ady Pennock made one change to the side that lost to Bradford 1-0 with the suspended Conor Wilkinson being replaced by Tom Eaves in attack. Josh Parker was alongside with skipper Lee Martin providing the creative options in midfield.
New signings Steve Arnold and Ben Nugent were among the substitutes.
Neither team particularly took command of the match in the early stages with both sides venturing forward in search of their first goals of the season.
Efforts by Josh Parker and Aaron Tshibola failed to trouble respective keepers Lee Nicholls and Tomas Holy.
Max Ehmer made an excellent last ditch tackle to deny Sow an almost certain goal, with Martin firing a shot over at the other end.
Goal mouth action was a rarity in the opening 45 minutes but Gboly Ariyibi nearly produced a moment of individual brilliance on 37 minutes. Using quick footwork he beat three Gills defenders and from 20 yards tried to find the top corner but Holy wasn’t required as the shot went over by at least a couple of feet.
Ogilvie dragged a shot wide before the interval with Ariyibi’s low cross not converted at the other end.
H/T: 0-0
It took just over a minute for MK Dons to seize the initiative following the interval. Tshibola picked out Sow with a brilliant diagonal ball; Lacey was unable to get anything on it and the striker guided a header beyond Holy and into the corner.
Gills responded well with Ogilvie and Martin linking up well on a couple of occasions but the visitors struggled to create anything meaningful.
The Gills skipper very nearly forced an equaliser on 65 minutes. A low cross from O’Neill was played into the path of Martin and he looked certain to equalise but another last ditch block denied him.
The introduction of Nash seemed to have a positive influence as Gills enjoyed a spell of good possession without forcing Nicholls into a save. Zakuani had to time a challenge well to stop Agard, who had come on for Sow, doubling the advantage with Lacey clearing a resulting free-kick.
MK Dons should have put the game to bed with five minutes to play. Holy was adjudged to have not won the ball with Ryan Seager approaching. The keeper appeared to have got the first touch but the penalty was awarded anyway by Trevor Kettle.
Agard stepped up but saw his penalty saved by Holy before the giant keeper got up quickly to stop the rebound.
Kettle awarded a second spot-kick, this time to the Gills, just moments later. Nash looked like the man to be brought down, Josh Wright stood over it but struck the penalty over the bar to the delight of the home fans.
F/T: 1-0
MK Dons: Nicholls, Williams, Walsh, Wootton, Ariyibi (Upson 81), Cisse, Sow (Agard 60), Seager, Muirhead (Pawlett 52), Ebanks-Landell, Tshibola.
Unused subs: Sietsman, Lewington, McGrandles, Brittain,
Gills: Holy, O’Neill, Ehmer, Lacey (Oldaker 81), Zakuani, Ogilvie, Byrne, Wright, Martin, Eaves, Parker (Nash 62).
Unused subs: Arnold, Nugent, Simpson, Hessenthaler, Cundle.
Attendance: 7901 (583 Gills)
Referee: Mr T Kettle