Gillingham are closing in on a return to their own training base following a nomadic first few months of the season.

The club hope to be back at Beechings Cross in Gillingham by the end of the month after a mix-up led to contaminated soil being used to lay new pitches in the summer.

Gills boss Steve Evans has praised chairman Paul Scally for getting the problem sorted out quickly. New pitches are almost ready to go.

“We are not far away from being able to return home,” said Evans, whose team will be spending a couple more weeks at King’s Hill.

“We have been going from pillar to post with our training for a while, since the start of the season, and there are many things the group have had to put up with.

“When you have a young group, they want to come in and be positive, and my words to them is ‘if you are going to come in and be negative about it, don’t come in.’ We want positivity, youthfulness and hunger to improve and to win and at the same time, let’s be positive.

“I have not heard one gripe. Wherever we have gone the chairman has made sure the facilities are nice and we are treated with respect and that is all we can ask and I make sure as the leader of that group that wherever we go we treat all staff and people with respect.

“We will certainly be back by the end of the month and that will be great. You can’t beat being at your own training ground, you can’t beat your own surroundings.

"We have been missing our training ground and making do with what we have had, it has been no fault of anyone and to be fair to the chairman, he has turned Beechings around from what was potentially a disaster with the contamination to being a facility that is looking in great condition.

“We have to give the players good options and good facilities to train on to get good performances, it all comes hand in glove. Obviously we need to treat the new pitches carefully but we are all eager to be in the town again, I am certainly eager.”

The training issue has been just one challenge of many for Evans since the start of the season, made more difficult by a run of injuries.

Evans has had a boost in that department too, however, with news that long-term injured pair Stuart O’Keefe and Jacob Mellis could be back sooner than expected.

Read more on the Gills;

International blow for Gills loan player

Hard work and humour before Gills take breather