LIFE in League One got off to a disappointing start as Accrington Stanley suffered their first defeat at the Wham Stadium since December.

The Reds were able to call on Kayden Jackson to start the campaign, after fending off interest from a number of Championship and League One clubs.

But front man, along with strike partner Billy Kee, was marked out of the game for the most part. More so once Gillingham took the lead.

Stanley began brightly, with Ben Richards-Everton, starting at left back, delivering a couple of dangerous balls into the box.

But Gillingham looked increasingly dangerous when they went forward, and their threat came to fruition in the 23rd minute.

Stanley had just cleared from a link-up between Regan Charles-Cook and Brandon Hanlon, but the duo combined again a minute later with Hanlon converting Charles-Cook’s cross from close range.

Stanley had a good chance to equalise on the half-hour when Richards-Everton sent in another good ball to the far right post. Jordan Clark met it with a volley but was agonisingly wide.

John Coleman’s men held their own, but when Ross Sykes, on his full Football League debut, missed a rare header, it opened the door for Josh Parker to make it 2-0 just before the break.

It was a lot for the Reds to recover from, but they kept going, and created more chances after switching from 4-4-2 to 3-5-2 after summer signing Sam Finley came off the bench to replace Callum Johnson.

Captain Seamus Conneely header wide, Scott Brown had a goalbound drive blocked by team-mate Sean McConville and Sykes had a downwards header from a corner cleared off the line in stoppage time.