Gillingham assistant manager John Schofield has been impressed with Cody McDonald’s sharp shooting in training.

The Coventry striker is all set to join the Gills on loan until the end of the season - with a deal set to be signed before this weekend's game against York City.

And Schofield has been delighted with the way McDonald has blended into the squad.

“He has been training with us and he has looked good,” said the Gills number two.

“He has looked sharp with some good finishing and he has mixed with the lads well, which is very important. Any player that comes to train with us needs to fit into our environment.

“We have got a set of lads working hard, supervised and unsupervised, to prolong their careers and be the best they can be and anyone who comes to even train with us, let alone join us, needs to be the right animal.”

McDonald hasn’t played in competitive action for over a month and Schofield admits the front-man – who top scored for the Gills in the 2010/11 season – needs games to get 100% fit.

The Gills assistant boss said: “He certainly looks sharp and is he match fit? Well he hasn’t been playing games for Coventry, so he is probably not going to be up to full speed, but he certainly looked sharp in training and his eye for goal has been there for all to see.”

McDonald, 26, has yet to sign officially but that is understood to be a formality.

Coventry manager Mark Robins, speaking about the move, hopes McDonald rekindles his scoring touch but revealed that the League 1 side will retain a call-back clause after the first month of the loan deal is complete.

“He’s our player so it’s in his interest and our interest for him to get some games under his belt,” Robins told the Coventry Telegraph.

“And if he does really well and we think we need him back we’ve got that recall.”