Dennis Oli is delighted to be back playing football again after missing a large part of the season with a broken toe.

The Gillingham forward, who earned plenty of plaudits for his performance in the FA Cup defeat against Aston Villa, has missed more than three months but has his smile back after recovering from a tortuous time on the sidelines.

"It was so frustrating being out," said the 24-year-old. “I couldn’t walk properly and it was getting me downhearted and stressed.

"Every day I was doing rehabilitation and running around the pitch while the other lads were training.

"I had to do a lot of things in the pool while all of the lads were at the training ground and I was on my own a lot of the time, which was hard.

"I would come in with a face like thunder sometimes. It was a horrible time and I just wanted to play."

Oli praised the club’s physio Paul Smith for nursing him back to full fitness and for keeping his spirits up.

“Smudger kept making jokes and making me smile,” he said. “He helped get me through.

“Sometimes I just felt that the injury wasn’t getting any better but I’ve started smiling again now. I just want to train all of the time.

“The season has just started for me now. I’m fresh and other teams might not have seen me before and I could be our secret weapon.”