Thurrock v Gillingham

Gillingham manager Mark Stimson is expecting another tough battle in Essex on Saturday.

The Gills travel to Stimson’s local side Thurrock, who are just minutes away from Wednesday’s opponents Aveley.

"They are a local team where I live and they will play with blood and thunder," he said.

"We’ve just got to go there and put on a lot better performance than against Dover."

Stimson has yet to unveil his summer signing Mark McCammon after the striker picked up a hamstring injury on his first day of training with the club.

The Gills boss, however, believes the striker is ready for action and is "90 per cent" sure he’ll feature against Thurrock.

Stimson said: "I put him through a couple of tests (before the game at Aveley) and he felt fine afterwards. If there are no problems, he’ll definitely start on Saturday.

"I would say there’s a 90 per cent chance he’ll play. He wants to play now and I think he’s ready but again with a hamstring injury you have to wait and be 100 per cent.

"He’s 99 per cent at the moment and the next step is two days’ training with the boys."

If McCammon doesn’t appear, Stimson hasn’t ruled the striker out for the season opener next weekend at Bournemouth.

He added: "Even if he didn’t play but kept working, we may just chuck him in at the beginning."