Gillingham are heading into a busy festive period but the manager wants to add another game to their schedule.
The Gills make the long trip north to Fleetwood this weekend before home games against Cambridge United and Colchester United, either side of Christmas, and away games at Swindon and Notts County early in the new year.
Manager Gareth Ainsworth has been coping with upwards of 10 players out injured at times in recent months, but is getting many of those players back now, and is planning on organised a match next week to help get them up to speed.
Defender Conor Masterson is training – missing since picking up an injury in the second game of the season – while Euan Williams hasn’t played since the end of last season. He’s also in training along with Jonny Smith, Marcus Wyllie and fit-again strikers Sam Vokes and Josh Andrews.
Giving them match minutes will be vital says the Gills boss.
Ainsworth said: “It’s s crazy because it’s Christmas week, but for the likes of Conor, and Marcus, Euan and Josh and people like that, Johnny Smith, who’s come back (to training) as well, we need to get match minutes.
“You can’t replicate match minutes in training. No matter what you do, when that match is on, that’s where you get your minutes.
“We’re trying to get a game on next week. Even if it’s an in-house game that we can get properly refereed, and the intensity is there, because it’s vital that they’re up to speed for these four games coming up.”
The Gills manager feels a strong squad will give them the edge of the Christmas period, allowing him to make substitutions that make an impact and rotate his side without weakening it.
Ainsworth said: “I’ve already spoken to a couple of the senior boys saying, ‘look, you’re not going to play every game. You’re going to have to do this, this and this’.
“We’re looking a little bit further in the future. Fleetwood is a huge test on Saturday and if any of those boys are in the squad, which there will be, I need to then time it right for (the minutes they get in) on Saturday against Fleetwood.
“It’s been a little bit too easy just to pick the squad and the subs because that’s all I’ve had. Now we’re starting to add some more and I want to be leaving some out of the squad, in a good way, where we’ve got too many good players.”
Midfielder Nelson Khumbeni will be missing for some time after suffering a dislocated shoulder last weekend.
Ainsworth said: “The shoulder popped out in a challenge towards the end of the Barrow game.
“I felt for him because he came on and he tried to impact. He’s tearing around everywhere and ended up jumping into one of their players and going over.
“You see it often where somebody sort of levers you and he went over on his shoulder. As he’s tried to stop himself falling, he’s popped his shoulder out. Nelson’s going to be out for a bit.
“But Conor, Vokesy, Josh Andrews, Marcus Wyllie and Euan Williams all trained (Thursday), so that’s really good.
“I’ve got some options now coming back, which is brilliant, not just for Saturday, but for this four-game run that I suppose every manager’s having a look at, going, ‘wow, this is going to stretch this to the limit’.
“It’s brilliant to have all those back and someone like Conor as well, what a character. For the squad to have him back is big. The two big men as well, it’s a treat to see them training.”
Goalkeeper Glenn Morris won’t make the weekend trip as he continued to recover from injury, but he isn’t far off, said the manager.
“He’s out on the grass now,” said the Gills boss.
“I don’t want to put too much pressure on him. I think his last thing now is kicking and getting his kicking going again because he had a thigh injury. But it’s great to see him out on the grass.
“He’s a great mentor for Jake Turner. I think Turns is learning plenty from Glenn. They’re both competing well for that shirt.”
