Gillingham make the short trip into Essex to face Grays today for their third pre-season match in five days.

Manager Mark Stimson, who managed Grays between 2003 and 2006, will once more field two different sides in each half as he continues to assess his squad.

The Gills have already faced Stevenage on Tuesday and Faversham on Thursday and today’s game will be the last for several players to impress, as Stimson looks to name a best eleven for Wednesday’s clash against Ipswich at Priestfield.

Stimson said: “The team will be mixed up again and that will give everyone the opportunity to play with somebody different. If we can put on another good performance then it will be a good work out.

“The most important thing in these first three games is to get the fitness levels right because next week we face two very tough games against Ipswich and Birmingham and we have to be fit for those.

“Hopefully we can score a few more goals, keep a clean sheet and the players will make it hard for me to pick the team to play against Ipswich.”

Stimson has several trialists at the club but he’s been giving priority to his contracted players during pre-season and has arranged an in-house game on Tuesday to have a better look at some of the hopefuls.

He said: “There are some players that want to come in and show me what they can do. It’s difficult to get them on the pitch in these games as we’ve got so many pros.”

Making a good impression so far has been lively winger Alistair John who is looking to get his career back on track after being stabbed last year.

“You can see what Ali’s got,” said Stimson. “He’s got a great change of pace over five yards but do we judge him against Faversham, no. He is that quick and he just needs to build up his fitness.

“He knows he is a million miles off but he’s just delighted to be playing football because what he’s gone through is life threatening.”

Read the report and reaction from Grays’ Recreation Ground here on Kentonline