Gillingham v Yeovil Town

GOALKEEPING coach Paul Crichton will make his Gillingham debut against Yeovil Town on Saturday following Jason Brown's injury.

Brown fractured his thumb while away on international duty with Wales, giving the 37-year-old his chance.

On the positive side, boss Neale Cooper will be pleased to see captain Chris Hope return. The centre-back has missed the last three matches after picking up a thigh injury during the Gills’ 3-2 Carling Cup win over Portsmouth.

And, despite Gillingham winning just once in eight league games, Hope says the spirit in the squad is still good.

"We can turn it around. The lads are positive and have been buzzing in training," he said.

"It’s a big blow to lose Jason as he’s been one of our best players this season. Paul Crichton, though, is experienced and I’m sure he’ll do well."

Cooper added: "It’s not the performances that have been letting us down. We’ve been missing vital players and you can rattle through the names.

"I’d have hoped that we’d be doing better than we are. But if we weren’t playing well at all, then I’d have to look at it. We’ve just got to start winning and get ourselves up the league."

Mark Saunders is back in contention, following his month’s loan at Welling and Cooper will assess the player in training before deciding whether to throw him in.

Darren Byfield is out and he joins Danny Spiller, Tony Bullock, Ian Cox, Brent Sancho, Paul Shields and Brown on the sidelines.

Alan Pouton has been ruled out until the early part of next year having picked up a knee injury in the reserves’ game against Woking.

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