Gillingham manager Mark Bonner has delivered a pre-Christmas boost with his latest team news update.
The Gills head to Colchester United on Boxing Day and Bonner won’t be short of options as both vice captain Armani Little and fellow midfielder Tim Dieng are back training after injury and available to select.
Forward Joe Gbode is also back available after missing the last two matches due to concussion protocols.
Bonner had big numbers of outfield players training on Monday and now faces some tough decisions over the coming games.
“We had 24 players and three or four goalies out on the grass for training,” said Bonner after Monday’s session.
“There’s a few that are coughing and spluttering. There’s loads of that going around at the moment.
“One or two weren’t on the grass today because of it. We’re hoping that we see them out there tomorrow (Tuesday) and that they’ll be alright for the game.
“So, barring any of that, which speaking to every club at the minute, it seems to be going around everywhere, we’re hoping to have a real big squad to pick from, which will be good for this game but also for the ones coming up soon after.”
Gillingham’s players complete their preperation for the Colchester match on Tuesday, before getting Christmas Day off.
The Gills boss said that both Little and Dieng had “trained flat out now for the last few days.”
Bonner’s already spoken about how important Little will be for the Gills but Robbie McKenzie and Ethan Coleman have developed a good partnership as the defensive-midfield duo.
On Little, Bonner said: “He hasn’t trained much and he’s been out a while, so that’s number one. Number two is the best thing ever is competition.
“Ethan and Robbie are playing really well, so it’s up to someone to squeeze them out of the team really. Those two have held a shirt at the moment.
“They have to keep knowing that they’ve got lots of players breathing down their neck. It’s like a little bit of an internal pressure that’s quite good for players that hopefully keeps the edge that we’ve discovered recently.
“Armani is going to have a massive part to play for us. But just like anyone else has, he might have to earn his way into the team.”
Bradley Dack played half an hour in Friday’s game and Bonner says they will continue to be cautious with the attacking midfielder.
He said: “In a short turnaround of games, if he plays big minutes in one of the games that are coming up, or bigger than he’s played, he might not appear in the next squad just because we have to be sensible.
“We’ll be led by his body. We won’t get greedy. We’ve got 26 league games to play and we’d love to have him available for as many of those as possible.
“We don’t want to blast too early and get excited now that he’s back. But he’s played a nice role, almost got the winning goal at the last kick of the game on Friday and he’s training well and building up nicely. Hopefully that just continues.
“I’m not really putting any targets on him ahead because you sort of build something up and then sometimes you get disappointed by it.
“I’m not really stressed about that. It’s just, let’s see when he’s available, let’s see how often he’s available, let’s see what level we can get him to. He’s a really talented, really good player.
“He’ll make us better when he plays and when he gets a run of games and that’s what we’ve got to just keep trying to work towards.”
On Gbode’s return to full training, Bonner joked: “He was training this morning so he’s good to go in terms of full contact training. I thought he was still concussed with some of his decisions this morning, which I told him, but he’s absolutely good as gold.”
Young full-back Harry Webster missed out last Friday ‘s squad after starting the previous two games.
Bonner said: “I think that will happen over the next month because of the balance of a bench that we want. Do we want one defender? Two defenders? Do we want extra forwards on the bench? Who we’re playing against, the threat of the opposition’s wide players, the fitness of our players.
“There’ll be loads of considerations into what the starting team is and what the bench is. Players could come in and out from one game to the next at the moment. I think that’s just the story for everybody.
“Certainly with the younger players, you do often see them dip in and dip out and things because it’s tough to maintain the level that he played in the first game when he played here against Salford.
“He was outstanding and it’s really tough to just keep churning that out at a time when it is like it is at the moment in the league. His games will come again. I’m sure over this block there’ll be an opportunity for him and he’ll be ready for it.”
