Gillingham manager Mark Bonner has welcomed the tough decisions he’s starting to face on a match day.
The Gills boss is beginning to see more of his injured players return to fitness and at the weekend he left the likes of Euan Williams and Peterborough loan striker Jacob Wakeling out of the 18-man squad.
Bonner has told his players that everybody will be needed over the busy period they are currently in, with another home game coming up tonight (Tuesday) against Grimsby Town.
With midfielder Tim Dieng and defender Conor Masterson closing in on a return, the selection headaches are going to grow.
Bonner said: “(Saturday) was the first time where we’ve had probably three or four that are available that we didn’t put in and that number will double in the next few weeks, if everybody stays fit.
“Competition will be high, which is good.
“The progress has to continue. The competition has to rise. The togetherness has to remain. If we want to be a good side over nine months, that’s what it’ll take.
“Bring on those tough decisions and they’re not easy because everyone deserves to be involved.
“In the end, you’ve just got to pick the A-team that you think is right on that day and hope it goes for you.”
Gillingham head into their match against Grimsby sitting top of the table but Bonner’s not taking any interest in that right now, with just eight games played.
He said: “I don’t want to be dismissive of that because, of course, that’s where we want to be but I don’t care about the league table at the moment because that will just constantly change.
“It doesn’t matter. All we’re chasing is points and progress and that looks after itself.
“Supporters should enjoy it. We want a connection. (We had a) good crowd here (on Saturday) and we want that to sustain and build even bigger if we can. That’s part of the job.
“We’ve got to do that and we’ll only stick around those parts if we keep getting better. We’ve got a chance of doing that. We’ve got some good players. We’ve got some good players coming back. And we’re close with a few others.”
League Two table
The Gills have won their opening four games at Priestfield, beating Barrow on Saturday 2-0. Midweek visitors Grimsby have had a mixed start to their campaign, winning 3-2 at Carlisle on Saturday thanks to two late goals.
Bonner admitted their own weekend performance was “average” but they managed to pick up a sixth win of the league season and a sixth clean sheet.
The manager said: “The changing room was really pleased that we got another clean sheet, another three points, another home win but actually, there was a bit of frustration thinking, ‘crikey lads, come on, we’re a better team than that, let’s show a better level’ which is not a bad situation to be in, going into a game so quickly Tuesday.
“We debriefed that real quick. We can tick it off, move on really quickly and get ourselves ready for another tough one on Tuesday.”
The Gills head into their midweek game with just two goals conceded from their opening eight games. It’s the best record in League 2.
Set-piece specialists Barrow left empty-handed at the weekend and top scorers Notts County couldn’t score against the Gills last weekend.
Bonner’s pleased his back-line are “doing their jobs”.
He said: “Those things are really important for us and we’ve had to rely on a couple of blocks and a couple of last-ditch saves, which, by the way, everyone’s allowed to create chances and have chances, that is going to happen.
“Goalies make saves, defenders make blocks. Without being too Roy Keane about it, they’re just sort of doing their jobs.
“That’s important and we need to keep doing that. We need to keep clocking those numbers and getting as many clean sheets as we can whilst being a threat at the opposite end.
“We’ve found a nice balance at the moment. We need to keep maintaining that.”
