Gillingham’s U18s recorded a convincing 5-2 win over Kent Schools FA at Kent University on Friday evening.
Leroy Halabi, Sol Solomon, Jude Arthurs, Theo White and Charles Noyelle were all on target as Mark Patterson’s men reacted in the best possible way after suffering a 3-2 defeat at Charlton during the week.
Gills took the lead inside 10 minutes when Halabi finished well from an ever decreasing angle, and the lead was doubled 16 minutes later when Solomon powered home following a fine team move.
A third was added shortly after the break when Arthurs reacted quickest with an initial effort having cannoned off the post, and although the hosts pulled one back via the penalty spot the game seemed over when White added a fourth.
The lead was reduced again not long after, but a fifth goal put the result beyond all doubt when Noyelle found the net after patient build up play.
Patterson said afterwards that his team took a while to get going but were worthy of victory.
He said: “We’re very pleased, we know these games are difficult and it’s a case of building up fitness. We always want to play well and we always try and win every game and we managed to do that but it was a battle.
“We were at Charlton on Wednesday where we lost 3-2 and it was a different type of game because we were the ones under but pressure but today was slightly different, we had a lot of the ball and we used it well the longer the game went on.”
Gills Starting XI: Catherall, Divine, Arnold, Tarft, Huckle, Trialist, Arthurs, White, Halabi, Noyelle, Solomon.