Gillingham boss Gareth Ainsworth insists there’s no need to panic – despite a third of his senior squad missing through injury.
The Gills are two games into their pre-season schedule and face their third on Tuesday night when Millwall visit Priestfield, but many players have yet to feature, including their first-choice keeper.
Fear not, insists the Gills boss.
He said: “I don’t want to go through what we went through last season and have [many] injuries. We’re going to get some, I know that and we’ve got a few too many now, but I’m looking at it going, ‘This is pre-season, they’ll be back for the season.
“We haven’t had anything like what I saw on the TV the other day. [Frankie Kent] just made a move [to Oxford United] and did his cruciate. That’s a big one, missing the majority of the season. I feel for him in a big way.
“What we’ve got is a couple of little two-weekers, four-weekers that we’ll just get around and will just get back for the start of the season. But yeah, nothing major. There’s no big ones.
“I don’t want them chasing and catching up. We’ll make sure that they’re not undercooked. I’m pretty happy where we are.”
Goalkeeper Ollie Wright could be back to face Luton Town in the Carabao Cup – a week before the Gills kick off their league campaign.
“He won’t play Tuesday,” Ainsworth confirmed.
“We’ll be seeing him soon after that. It might be behind closed doors, so the fans might have to wait, but he is in the building. Don’t worry about it.
“He’s just picked up a little knock training, which happens, especially when I wanted to go with the one keeper and supplement with the others. We’ll definitely have a keeper in on that first game.
“At the moment, [Ollie is] confident he’s going to make the first game, which hopefully will be Luton, which will give him a week for the league anyway. We’ll see where we are. But yeah, there’ll be no panic.”
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Wright was one of eight senior players missing at the weekend, but there was relief when striker Seb Palmer-Houlden returned to the pitch after appearing to suffer a shoulder injury.
Ainsworth said: “When Seb went down with his shoulder, I feared the worst. But he’s okay as well. He carried on.
“That’s good because I think he’s come back really well as well.
“There’s a couple of them who, in the off-season, I told them at the end of the season what I wanted from them and they’ve come back and done what I wanted. Seb’s one of them.
“He looks leaner and meaner and I think he’s going to have a good season this year.”
Ainsworth spoke about those players missing – with Garath McCleary the one who they are unsure about, while Bradley Dack and Armani Little are also unlikely to play this Tuesday.
Ethan Coleman and Cameron Antwi haven’t been involved yet but Ainsworth expects strikers Will Goodwin and Ronan Hale to feature against Millwall.
The Gills boss said: “Ethan’s back on the grass, which is great. Cameron had major surgery after the Barrow tackle. His ankle was a mess and he had to have surgery on that.
“He’s now on the grass, which is great. Only a couple of weeks behind the boys. So, there’s two there.
“Will and Ronan are just really precautions. That’s four out of the eight that could come back.
“Garath will manage his own body, he’s 38. I think he’s one of our best players when he’s on it and when he’s fit. We have to respect that he’s 38 years old and has probably had a different pre-season to most of the players.
“It’s a slow burner on Garath. He’ll be back fit again. We’re hoping for that first game, Garath will be available.
“Will Goodwin and Ronan Hale would have played [on Saturday] if it was a league game.
“Dacky and Armani limped off [last Tuesday]. They’re going to be a couple of weeks and hopefully back for that first weekend.”
