Gillingham boss Andy Hessenthaler has refused to blame his team's winless start on a crippling injury list.

Long-term injury victims Simon King and Garry Richards have been joined on the treatment table by the likes of Cody McDonald, Andy Barcham, Dennis Oli and Curtis Weston in recent weeks.

Barcham and McDonald both missed the 5-4 defeat at Bury on Saturday but Hessenthaler said that his squad should be able to cope.

"We could hide behind losing players through injury with Cody McDonald failing a fitness test before the game and Andy Barcham out for two to four weeks - but I’m not going to do that," said Hessenthaler.

"We’ve got a squad of players here and we should be performing a lot better than we did in the first half (at Bury)."

Hessenthaler is hoping his injury concerns will ease before Saturday's visit of leaders Shrewsbury.

The Gills host Brentford in a reserve game at Priestfield on Wednesday afternoon (2pm) with the likes of Weston, Stanley Aborah and Oli all expected to feature. McDonald is also expected to be fit to face Shrewsbury.

Hessenthaler added: "Hopefully it will be positive on the injury front and it will give us more options."

Above: Cody McDonald leaves the field injured against Southend. Picture: Barry Goodwin

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