Gillingham boss Andy Hessenthaler admitted the club may need to reassess how they handle Simon King in the future.

The defender suffered a minor set-back to his recovery from a long-term ankle injury last week after feeling uncomfortable during a practice match.

It led to King (pictured below right) sitting out Gillingham’s game at Stockport and Hessenthaler knows they need to handle the player with care.

“He is a tricky one and we have to be careful with him,” said Hessenthaler (pictured right).

“He has been working very hard and he is still going to be a little sore with that ankle for a long time and we have to manage him a little bit better.

“What we’ll do is ease him along. He wants to train every day but he can’t. We might have to have him training and then have a day’s rest. He might need to pick and choose his weeks sometimes.

“He is a little bit down, which is understandable, but he travelled with us (to Stockport) and I’m sure he will be okay for next weekend.

“We didn’t put him on the bench in the end because you can only put three on and we had cover for the positions to cope.”

When he does return to action King will be making his 100th appearance for the Gills and he’ll be cursing his luck this weekend, as fellow centre-back Garry Richards did get on the pitch, after recovering from his own ankle injury.

Richards made a late appearance off the bench for his first Gills showing since playing Millwall in April.

“Garry is back now and I am pleased for him,” said Hessenthaler.