Injured Gillingham striker Adam Birchall has already hit his first target on the road to recovery.

Birchall (pictured) is refusing to set a timescale for his return and is keen to break his progress into small segments.

“It’s road to recovery now in my mind,” said Birchall, who damaged his cruciate knee ligament in the friendly at Welling last month. “I was devastated when I found out but that’s history now.

“I’m not one for longer targets – never have been. It’s about the smaller targets that make the big picture for me. It’s going to be lots of little targets and if I can hit or beat them then we’ll see when I get back.

“I’ve beaten my first target. At this point I should be able to bend my leg 30 degrees and I can bend it at 45 – so I’m 15 degrees ahead of schedule!”

It is that positive attitude that will clearly aid Birchall’s rate of progress and the warmth shown to him by his new colleagues has clearly lifted his spirits.

He added: “If you’d spoken to me a month ago I might not have been like this.

“But Gillingham as a club has picked me up. I had all the boys ring me up the day after the injury happened and on that night the chairman called me and said that we’d get through it together.

“When things get tough you find out who your real friends are and I’ve had hundreds of well-wishers.”