Gillingham midfielder Ben Pringle was unavailable on Tuesday as he had his hands full.

The 31-year-old was left out of the squad for the midweek match against Tottenham’s under-21s after becoming a father for the first time.

He had been at the hospital with his partner in the early hours of Tuesday and the Gills management decided against dragging him away for an EFL Trophy match that had nothing riding on it.

“We have known him for a long time and we are really delighted for him,” said Gills assistant boss Paul Raynor.

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“He was up at the hospital until the early hours and it wouldn’t have been fair to him to drag him to the ground for a game of football. That wasn’t the most important thing, especially when there was nothing on the game in terms of qualification.

“He will be back in on Thursday and hopefully available for selection Saturday.”

Fellow midfielder Matty Willock is not quite ready for his return from injury. He’s only played one half of competitive football for the Gills since signing.

“We are working him incredibly hard,” said the Gills No.2.

“We need to keep him fit for the rest of the season and pushing him into the game (on Tuesday) might have been a step too far and too early.

“Hopefully we can get him doing another week’s full training with an eye on the following weekend. He is having a mini pre-season just to try and get him up to speed because he has missed so much. Let’s hope we can get him out there as soon as possible.”