Gillingham manager Mark Stimson believes new signings Jaime Peters and Rene Steer will help create healthy competition within his squad.

Peters, a 21-year-old right-sided midfielder has joined from Ipswich and he made his debut on Saturday with a late substitute appearance.

Left-back Steer, 18, comes from Arsenal’s reserve side and was an unused substitute in the 1-0 win. Both are on one-month loan deals but neither are there to keep the bench warm.

Stimson said: “He (Peters) is another bundle of energy with great pace to get behind defenders and cross the ball. The more of them we have around the more chance we have of creating chances for our strikers.

“If you think Dennis (Oli) and Jaime (Peters) are quick then you should see Rene. He’s very sharp and he’ll push John Nutter all the way.

“Healthy competition is the only way to move forward. Unfortunately last year everyone thought they had a divine right, because they were earning so much money, to play in the football team and that didn’t work out.”

Stimson still has cash to spend but he won’t be spending money for the sake of it.

He said: “We’re not going to get what I think the club was into before. Players were earning too much money without going out there and winning football matches, scoring goals and keeping clean sheets.

“I’ve always been brought up on bonuses, that’s the key thing and that’s the deal I’m putting across to players.

“I had a centre-half last year playing here who was on more than all of my back four (on Saturday) and he wasn’t a spring chicken either.”

Stimson had been keen to add a defender to the squad and made enquiries for Grays defender Jon Ashton, but with the form shown by midfielder-turned-defender Mark Bentley, he may not be so keen now.

“I don’t think I’ll look for a centre-back now because I think Mark Bentley has been absolutely immense,” he said.

“I spoke to his (Ashton’s) representative. They’ve asked for a certain deal but I can’t get near that.”

Stimson is, however, still keen on a striker and insists he is still in the hunt for Charlton’s Chris Dickson – despite strong interest from League 1 side Southend.

“We’ll wait to the last minute in that window to bring him (Dickson) and if we don’t we’ll look elsewhere,” said Stimson.

“You’re always looking for someone to come in maybe for the last 20 games and try and get 10 goals. There aren’t many of them around but there’s one or two options that might come into play.”