Gillingham manager Andy Hessenthaler is relishing the defensive selection headache he’s going to be having in the coming days.

Josh Gowling (below) and Simon King (right) are returning to full fitness and, with Tony Sinclair waiting patiently for his chance, they will give competition to the current central defensive pair of Garry Richards and Matt Lawrence.

"We need those options for the run-in," said the Gills boss. "We need everyone because we are liable to pick up knocks along the way and we have got some good players waiting in the wings."

Reflecting on the clean sheet against Bradford, Hessenthaler added: "The back four again defended very well against a tough side.

"We’ve got great experience there with Matty Lawrence. He got presented with his shirt before the game after playing 600 games and it’s a fantastic achievement.

"He also won player-of-the-month in the paper and rightly so for me – he was tremendous. He and Garry Richards are developing an understanding and keeping players out."

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