Manager Peter Taylor made no apologies for rotating his Gillingham squad at Oldham.

And the Gills boss will continue to make changes as he attempts to keep the club in League 1.

He said: “If we are going to stay in this division, it will be the squad that keeps us up, not 11 players.”

Taylor made six changes to his starting XI at the weekend, with leading scorer Cody McDonald among those missing out.

He said: “The whole idea of Saturday was to keep everyone on their toes and to keep the competition healthy every time we train and play. The players that came in did some good things. I have certainly got no complaints at the way we played.”

Gillingham lost 1-0 but had numerous chances.

Explaining his reasoning for leaving strikers McDonald and Adebayo Akinfenwa out of the side, Taylor said: “Bayo played 90 minutes the other day and the only other 90 minutes he has played was against Brackley.

“People probably shouldn’t have been surprised that he didn’t start.

“Cody looked a bit tired and didn’t look himself on Wednesday night (against Sheffield United).

“If you then don’t take advantage of your squad players, you are going to have an unhappy camp because they will all be thinking ‘I am never going to play’.

“They are professional footballers, they are realistic and they understand.

“I would love to play everyone but at times you have to play a fair XI and give fresh legs a chance.

The Gills finished the weekend 12th in League 1 – six points above the bottom four.
Taylor said: “There is still a long way to go and we still need to win more matches.”