by Luke Hollands

Gillingham defender Simon King has made a key step forward in his return to match fitness.

King, pictured, returned to light training on Thursday morning, six months after picking up a serious ankle injury during a pre-season friendly against Bromley.

The 26-year-old had an operation on the damaged ankle in September and has been working hard to return to fitness ever since.

Manager Mark Stimson is delighted the former player of the year may return to his squad before the end of the season.

He said: "Simon's buzzing today, he's been told he can jog, which is brilliant news for him.

"He hasn't jogged for a long while. He's done some real hard work, both here and at Lilleshall and to get on the training ground is a forward step. We've just got to monitor it now."

Before Christmas Stimson had feared King could miss the rest of the season, so he's under no illusions his key defender has a long way to go.

He said: "When you've just started jogging you don't know what reaction you might get. With Simon we've got to make sure we keep the reins on him.

"He's one of these players that would play through everything, Jogging to him is probably a bit strange, he'll want to be striding."