Gillingham have had a number of players missing from their recent pre-season games but there’s no panic from boss Mark Bonner.
Strikers Elliott Nevitt and Josh Andrews sat it out on Tuesday for the match against Dartford having both played in the weekend win over Watford.
Bonner’s side have coped well with the absences, with young defender Harry Webster picking up a man-of-the-match award on Saturday and young striker Harry Bridle scoring twice at Dartford. Youth players have been making up the numbers.
Jonny Williams, Ethan Coleman, Armani Little, Alex Giles and George Lapslie were all left out but for most, it’s just a case of managing the players.
Explaining why Nevitt and Andrews weren’t involved at Dartford, Bonner said: “Josh had a tight quad going into the game, he is off his feet a little to let that settle.
“Elliott Nevitt’s got a little tight hip flexer but he should be training Thursday. We might use him on Saturday (at Southend), he might play the bigger minutes or we might choose not to play him at all, we will see how that settles.
“We are not stressed about it, we just don’t want to injure anyone.
“I wouldn’t call them injuries. Ethan Coleman and Armani Little have got an injury, Jonny Williams, Josh Andrews, Elliott Nevitt have just got pre-season bodies and we don’t want them to become injuries, simple as that.
“We want players to train and play as much as possible in pre-season and then they will benefit from that. We don’t want to break them trying to do every day and then we suffer the consequences.
“Ethan is struggling a little bit and he’s had an injection in his ankle and we will know over the next couple of weeks whether that has worked or not. He has been out for a while now.
“Armani is working well in the gym. He will be back within a week or two, no stress there. He took part in the first few weeks so knows where we are and he is a fit boy.”
Tuesday’s game at Dartford was a first appearance for striker Marcus Wyllie
He quit his job as a teacher last week to turn pro with the Gills, having joined from non-league Enfield Town.
It’s a big change and he will now be adapting to life as a full-time footballer.
Bonner said: “I put no pressure on him whatsoever, no real expectation as to what he can do.
“Hopefully he can get close to our team and close to scoring goals in our team really quickly but there is a significant lifestyle shift for him to play full-time football for the first time.
“I have had years of doing that with young pros and scholars, and he is a man, but it’s the same difference. You have to adapt your body firstly.
“We can help him develop and cope with that and then mentally and psychologically moving house, areas, taking on the intensity of it all.
“It is a great challenge for him but I think we are fairly well experienced in helping with that.”
