Gillingham’s hopes of having Armani Little back for next week’s game at Bromley have been set back.
Little had been on track to make a return for Wednesday night’s League 2 match at Hayes Lane after missing the last two games with a hamstring injury.
On Friday afternoon, Gills manager Mark Bonner provided an update on the player’s condition and it wasn’t a positive one.
Bonner said: “Armani’s probably a little bit worse than we thought, so we’re probably a little bit further behind with him.
“We hoped he’d be [back] this week, but on the second reading of his scan, the hamstring’s a little bit worse.
“It probably just sets us back another week or two with him.”
The Gills did have Robbie McKenzie and George Lapslie involved again last weekend. They are both likely to be pushing for a start at Bromley for the midweek clash.
Others, like Aaron Rowe, are closing in on a return.
Bonner said: “Aaron Rowe had an injection this week just to settle down something in his back, but he’s trained a bit in the early part of the week and last week.
“He should be back into full training next week. Hopefully, maybe back end of next week for Salford, he might have a chance. If not, then hopefully the week after that.”
Striker Oli Hawkins is “a week or so” away from full training after missing the last few games through injury.
Bonner said: “He had a bit of swelling in his knee a couple of weeks ago so the swelling’s gone.
“He’s run today (Friday) for the first time. Hopefully in a week or so he’ll be back training which will be good.”
Bradley Deck, meanwhile, remains some time off, with no timescale on his involvement yet and picking up a another minor problem.
Bonner said: “He’s another one who’s had an injection. We had the needles out this week!
“That’s just to settle down something around his knee, but he should be training again next week.
“He did a little bit last week and went to Loughborough (for a week of intense rehab), and then he came back and trained for a day. He had a little issue that just needs a bit of attention, so that’s fine. Nothing big, really.
“He’ll be back training again Monday.
“How that goes, I don’t know, and how quickly we can get him in the squad, I don’t know.
“Obviously the sooner we can get some back-to-back training into him, that will help him.
“I wouldn’t expect to see him in the squad at all next week, and then we’ll just see how his training goes.
“He’s always one that the timelines are really difficult. It’s probably really similar with Josh Andrews in the fact that we never really have a timeline. We just see how he goes.”
Bonner confirmed that both Jonny Williams and Peterborough loan striker Jacob Wakeling are available. They were left out last weekend for the match against Harrogate.
He said: “Both were fit but I decided not to involve them in that game. As we’ve seen before, it can change in an instant.”
