Gillingham’s disappointing weekend defeat against Oldham was made worse by an injury sustained by one of their key players.
Boss Gareth Ainsworth was forced into making a change at the break against Oldham after winger Garath McCleary picked up an injury.
McCleary had been a threat late in the first half as the Gills looked to get back into the game against Oldham after conceding two early goals.
“That was a real big blow for us,” said the Gills manager.
“He’s been one of my consistently high performers.
“He can terrorise and get crosses in, and he was doing that, but that just compounded the day, really, knowing that he had an injury.
“We’re probably going to have to be without Gareth now for a couple of weeks, which, again, is a worry.”
McCleary took a while to get going this season because of previous fitness issues, but had been a regular in the side of late, providing a threat from out wide either from the starting line-up or as a substitute.
At 38, the Gills have had to manage the winger carefully – limited to just two full games this season – and they must now wait to see how bad his injury is.
“It was a strain,” confirmed the Gills boss. “That’s not good for Garath because he’s a super player.
“I thought he had a really good last 30 minutes of the [first] half.
“We’ll have to deal with that, and other players are going to have to step up.”
Ainsworth has already lost loan winger Jonny Smith to injury.
His only other senior wide man, Aaron Rowe, hasn’t played in the last five games and hasn’t made the matchday squad for the last four.
Seb-Palmer Houlden was McCleary’s replacement at the break on Saturday, and the substitute did manage to test the visiting keeper on a couple of occasions, but couldn’t find the net.
