Gillingham’s leading scorer Danny Kedwell will undergo a delayed hernia operation next week.

The 10-goal striker was due for an operation on Monday but a cancelation meant he was a surprise inclusion in the Gills squad to face Leyton Orient on Boxing Day.

Kedwell is likely to be on the bench again on Sunday, when the Gills face Walsall and when they travel to Stevenage on New Year’s Day. He will undergo an operation on Thursday.

“The surgeons are blaming the hospital and the hospital are blaming the surgeons (for the cancelation) and we can’t really get to the bottom of it,” said frustrated Gills boss Peter Taylor.

“All of a sudden he is available and he is now going to have an operation on January 2. As long as he doesn’t play 90 minutes he could be available to be sub, to come on for 10-15.

“Nobody was trying to be clever, saying he was going to be playing and having an operation, that’s what happened.

“There is a good chance he will be sub for the next two matches.”

The severity of the problem won’t be found out until the 30-year-old undergoes his op but he is expected to be missing for two to four weeks.

“It just depends on how serious it is,” said Taylor. “They open him up and I think they will end up doing both sides.

“It is just very uncomfortable for him at the moment and it’s the next day (after a game) when he feels it. When he played against Peterborough (on the Saturday) he then couldn’t do anything until the Thursday.”