Gillingham could be set for a festive boost as several big players come back into the frame following injury.
Manager Gareth Ainsworth has missed having a big striker to utilise, and he’s hopeful that both Josh Andrews and Sam Vokes will be available over the Christmas period.
Ainsworth – who was looking to arrange a midweek match to boost his returning players’ fitness levels – could also have defender Conor Masterson back at his disposal.
Those players are sure to give the Gills a lift, as they look to return to winning ways, after following up five successive draws with a weekend defeat at Fleetwood.
“Hopefully we’ll get the two big strikers back,” said Ainsworth, ahead of their Boxing Day clash with Cambridge United at Priestfield.
“Marcus (Wyllie) will be back. Conor Masterson, hopefully he’ll be back. All of these will be real positives for us if we can get back for this run of Christmas games.
“I’m going to have to change the team around a little bit, but we’ve got seasoned pros like Jonny Williams, Ethan Coleman and Max Clark on the bench (last weekend) and Shad Ogie. We have got quite a few defensive ones there.
“It’s the attack, really, that we need to work on. We need to get better at attacking.
“But I’m looking forward to some of these players coming back now. We’ve got too many out injured. I need some of them back.
“We have got some players coming back now for the Christmas period. I’m really looking forward to that. We’re trying to get them back without risking them and rushing them.
“But now we’ll have a look where we are next week, and hopefully the next two games we can get wins.”
Ainsworth got loan winger Jonny Smith back involved at the weekend, introducing him off the bench after a spell out injured.
But earlier he’d lost experienced winger Garath McCleary to injury after he pulled out of the warm-up at Fleetwood. It led to Ainsworth changing his starting XI, naming Seb Palmer-Houlden in the team instead.
“It was a blow for the boys,” Ainsworth said. “With his pace and his experience, he’s shown in the past few games how good he can be.
“To lose him was a blow but I’m not going to put (the defeat) down to that. We weren’t good enough second-half.
“I’ll be telling the boys that, and making sure that we’ve got to put it right on Boxing Day.”
