Those that witnessed Myles Weston’s opening performances for the Gills will be forgiven for getting a bit excited.
Not since the days of Matt Jarvis have the Gills had a winger to make full-backs quake in their boots.
He may not be Jarvis class, but Myles Arthur Euguene Wesley Weston – his full name according to Wikipedia - certainly proved too hot to handle for Wycombe in the opening periods of Tuesday night’s game and that pace is something that has been badly lacking at Gills in recent seasons.
On Tuesday they were able to use Weston as predatory attacker in the first half and then, when up against it with ten men, the Gills were able to feed him the ball and let him do what he liked as an outlet to give the rest of the team some much needed recovery time.
Gills, under Martin Allen, are set up with just three midfielders and someone sat infront of the Back four (Jack Payne on Tuesday). It means the full-backs are required to get forward as often as possible, which does tend to suggest a winger is not required.
But Weston has shown versatility already. His favoured position is on the left flank, where he made an impressive substitute showing at the weekend, but on Tuesday he went upfront with Danny Kedwell and appears to have been given license to roam.
He is fast and direct and it is just a shame his early run down the flank on Tuesday, where he jumped two sliding tackles and even got the home fans off their seats, wasn’t rewarded with a goal. A fine save denied him a really special moment.
But no doubt we will eventually see a run and finish, assuming Weston can maintain that quality, and there is no reason he can’t. He is young, he has dropped down a level and he just wants to play games and express himself. Allen seems set to give him that opportunity.
Consistency, like all lower division players, will be his biggest obstacle.
Another to have impressed since signing has been Charlie Allen. He will be facing doubters after being signed by his father but young Charlie is proving what a class player he is. And again, it is his pace from midfield which is unsettling opponents. He also has an eye for a pass, like the one he served up for Danny Kedwell to open the scoring on Saturday.
It is early days for both Weston and Allen but both, so far, have given the Gills so much more energy and certainly made them more entertaining to watch.
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