Gillingham midfielder Alex MacDonald isn’t letting his own frustration get in the way of his desire to see the team do well.

The midfielder has made more substitute appearances in the league than starts this season and has found it hard to hold down a regular place in the starting line-up at Gillingham.

At 30, he knows how cut throat football can be, and is willing to graft whatever happens. On Saturday he made a positive impact when coming on early in the second half, with the Gills dominating the remainder of the match against Plymouth Argyle.

“It has been frustrating,” he said. “For me personally, the way I know I can get the best out of myself, it is to be playing my stuff week in, week out. I have been in out, in out recently so it has been tricky but I am one of the older players, I can’t be spitting my dummy out, I can’t be hard work for anyone else, I need to try and help the team as much as possible.

“As soon as I found out on Saturday that I wasn’t going to be playing (he had started the midweek game at Northampton) I was still encouraging and getting everyone going as much as possible, as best as I can.

“It has been tricky, it has been hard to try and find that consistency for myself, being in and out, but that is part and parcel of being a footballer."

He was glad to have made an impact at the weekend but disappointed that they couldn’t turn their dominance into goals.

He said: “As much as you are unhappy at not starting, when you do play your part you have to give everything and nobody more than myself wants this club to do well.

“With the young team we have at the moment we are just showing that little bit of inconsistency and it is hard, but nobody is more frustrated than the bodies in that dressing room, it is not through a lack of effort or a lack of trying.

“It was encouraging to get back out there second half and really dominate on the ball. We had Jordan Graham who was firing all cylinders and putting in some great deliveries. It was a hard one to take (losing the match 1-0) but when we look back, without the emotion, we will look back on a very positive display, especially second half.

“We have a full week of training now ahead of Saturday (at home to Burton Albion) and we are going to go into that, roll our sleeves up and it is all about working hard.

“As an older head, we have to try and keep the group upbeat. We showed in the second half (at Plymouth) and for large spells of the first half as well the performances are there. The heart and the endeavour and trying to win games is there.

“It is up to me and a couple of the other older ones to try and well and truly keep the boys on track. If we can produce those performances with that heart and desire we’ve shown, in each game, it has to turn.”

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