Gillingham’s head coach Stephen Clemence is willing to give youth a chance rather than dip into the free-agent market.

There’s concern among fans that injuries to recent signings Jorge Hurtado and Josh Andrews leaves the Gills sailing close to trouble should anything happen to their other forwards.

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Andrews was due to see a specialist on Thursday over a muscle strain and there is confidence in the camp that the player will be featuring soon. Young strike Joe Gbode, meanwhile, is back from loan at Aveley and training more frequently with the first team.

There are numerous strikers currently without clubs including former Cardiff City man Connor Wickham, experienced lower-league front-man Kieran Agard and a host of youngsters like Tarique Fosu, who is a free agent after leaving Brentford.

Clemence says it’s not an avenue they’re pursuing.

He said: “Any free agents are looked at but there is nothing happening at the moment. A couple of people in the street have mentioned one or two players to me this week.

“There are different reasons for every case why a player hasn’t got a club, you have to treat every case differently, but it is not something happening at the moment.”

Some of Gills’ rivals in League 2 have opted to bring in additional players. With the transfer window shut, only players who were out of contract on February 1 onwards can be signed.

Doncaster have signed former Coventry City striker Maxime Biamou on a short-term deal while Morecambe have added Jordy Hiwula to their squad on a contract for the remainder of the season.

With a B Team in place, however, the Gills do have other options and Gbode was recalled recently from Aveley after an illness to regular first-team starter Oli Hawkins threatened to keep him out.

Clemence will keep Gbode close to the first team for now and said: “Joe Gbode has been training with us on a more regular basis.

“I have said many times before, when there are injuries and problems in your squad in certain areas then it’s an opportunity for someone else, and you never know, it might be some point in the season where a young player gets a chance.

“Joe has a physicality, he can move, he gets hold of the ball well, he works hard, he still has areas of his game that he need to improve on and he needs to be coached but he is still 18.

“He is only going to get better but I think by training with us on a more regular basis that will help him and we will do our best, myself and the other coaches in the club to make him better.

“At the moment Joe isn’t going out on loan anywhere, you never know what could happen in the coming weeks, we have five games in 14-15 days so you never know when he might be needed. He was nearly needed a couple of games ago, he didn’t quite make the bench, but he is definitely in the plans.”