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Manager Peter Taylor is refusing to let Gillingham’s injury issues get to him.
Gills suffered a double blow on Saturday as both Danny Hollands and Chris Whelpdale limped out of action in the 2-2 draw with Peterborough.
Taylor has already been forced to send two loanees – John Mousinho and Elliott Hewitt – back to their parent clubs because of injury. He’s been wrestling with injury problems ever since taking over at Gills.
“We just have to get on with it,” said Taylor, who was also missing Charlie Lee, Craig Fagan and Amine Linganzi through injury on Saturday.
“Hollands is on crutches now and his is more of a knee injury whereas Chris Whelpdale is more of a kick. I imagine Whelpdale is not as serious.
“We are hopeful that Fagan and Linganzi will be fit next week but it does make us a bit light in the midfield area.
“It is a difficult situation for any club, let alone one our size to all of a sudden lose a load and you have five matches in 14 days (coming up). That’s going to be a test for all of us.”
Frenchman Linganzi, who is recovering from a hamstring injury, was due to be involved at the weekend, as was former Peterborough player Lee, another to be suffering from a soft-tissue injury.
Taylor said: “Linganzi has had a bit of a setback and wasn’t 100% right. Lee felt his hamstring on Monday morning. We were hopeful it was just like a spasm, or tiredness from (last) Saturday’s game but he still wasn’t right on Thursday morning and couldn’t take that risk.”
There was better news for Taylor with another midfielder, after Steven Gregory returned at the weekend.
He has been missing since limping off against Sheffield United, again with a hamstring strain. He came on towards the end of the second half as Hollands and Whelpdale were withdrawn.
Taylor said: “Our two players with long throws get injured at the same time and all of a sudden that weapon is out of the window for us.”