Lee Bowyer expressed his frustration at losing two first-team players to injury as Charlton went down to a clinical Gillingham side.

Lewis Page was replaced with Jonny Williams, who returned to The Valley just days earlier, after just 10 minutes.

Then, after Chuks Aneke levelled the scores following Stuart O’Keefe’s opener, he went down shortly before the hour mark and was swapped for George Lapslie.

Gillingham fired back after half-time through Mikael Ndjoli and secured the victory through substitute Elliott List’s late strike.

Both Page and Aneke looked to have suffered hamstring problems, whilst Lyle Taylor also came off later on in the game for Alfie Doughty after previously appearing in some discomfort.

Bowyer said: “Obviously the worst thing is injuries. Two hamstrings - don't know how bad they are - but it's not good. It's not a good way to start.

“Page had come off after 10 minutes and then we had to change everything around. The subs, apart from Jonny Williams, all trained really hard this morning so we couldn't even put one of them on.

“Naturally, we would have put Alfie [Doughty] on at left wing back but we couldn't because he worked so hard this morning and he would never have lasted, and there's every chance that he would have been injured as well.

“We had to change the whole thing around and then Jonny, that's his first game so we had to put him on and then take him off. It just wasn't our day, really, from start to finish.”

Aneke opened his account for his new club when he smashed home the equaliser on 42 minutes following a powerful Naby Sarr free-kick.

The former Arsenal youngster was praised for his performance against Gillingham, though Bowyer is hopeful both his and Page’s injuries are just “little twinges”.

But the Addicks boss also insists the latest injury setbacks will not affect the club’s activity in the transfer market.

Bowyer is keen to continue strengthening his squad ahead of the first game of the season, away to Blackburn Rovers, and will now be turning his attention to striking some loan deals.

He added: “We've got our targets, positioning-wise. We have got two left backs, we've got Ben [Purrington] there as well so we don't need to panic.

“If Pagey was the only one, like last year, then yeah we would have to reconsider it.

“But no, we're okay there. Got Ben who is solid. [With Aneke's position] we've got Jonny who can play in the 10 as well. We know the one ones we need to bring in and that is not going to change.”

Asked whether Taylor’s exit late on was a precautionary measure, Bowyer said: “I had to take Lyle off because I was thinking, 'I can't risk it'. Seventy five [minutes], just take him off and then maybe give him a bit on Tuesday as well.

“After losing two you don't want to lose your main striker so no, I took him off and then I'll probably give him a bit on Tuesday [against Colchester United].”