Getting Gillingham to find the back of the net more frequently will be an immediate challenge for the new head coach.

The fans want more exciting football and the goals must follow.

A lack of goals and a lack of striker options was an ongoing headache for outgoing interim Gillingham boss Keith Millen and is something Stephen Clemence will hope he can fix.

Millen’s game in charge against Newport County last Saturday was his last in the league ahead of a new first- team head coach being appointed - and one where the team were goal-shy once again.

The Gills lost 2-0, despite having 17 attempts at goal. Just three were on target.

It’s a problem that hampered former boss Neil Harris throughout his time at the Gills and one the new man in charge will have to fix.

Gillingham are the only team in the top half with a negative goal difference and have scored less than half the total that the leading contenders in the division have managed.

Prior to Clemence’s appointment, there were rumours circulating that out-of-contract striker Lyle Taylor - the former Charlton and Nottingham Forest forward - has been training with the Gills. Fresh faces may be the answer.

Millen, speaking after the defeat to lowly Newport, said: “We are lacking, Oli Hawkins is out injured, Ashley Nadesan is injured, that’s two.

“Tom Nichols was brilliant (on Saturday), he tweaked his back in training, he was really doubtful for the game but he got a load of painkillers down him. I wanted to try and get him on the pitch.

“When you look at the team and the squad, the history of them as individuals, how many real goalscorers are in that group? You are not going to make someone a 20-goals-a-season player overnight.

“We need to look at how we will score goals and obviously try and share them around a bit more - set-pieces, centre-halves scoring from them, you cannot rely on one player. At the moment we are lacking options up front.”

It’s over to Clemence now to try and put it right. He can bring free agents in if he feels the need, ahead of the opening of the January transfer window, when loans and deals for contracted players can be made.

Good news for Clemence, and for the Gills, is the return from injury of Tim Dieng.

Millen resisted putting him on the pitch at the weekend but named the Frenchman on the bench.

“It was great to get Timmy Dieng back in the squad [after injury],” Millen said.

“We just have to build his fitness up. Hawks and Nadders are still a little bit away from joining in training, so there is a lack of goals available at the moment. We just have to work harder and keep trying to produce more chances.

“We work hard on the technique of finishing. We had enough chances on Saturday, two or three really good ones.”

Dieng has been missing for almost two months following a knee injury at Grimsby.

The midfielder got 14 goals for his old team Exeter when they got promoted from this level in the 2021/22 season.

Millen said: “He is a good character, well liked in the dressing room, and when we announced the subs the lads gave him a round of applause. There was a big grin on his face.

“I nearly put him on at the end, I thought I just needed Shaun Williams’ experience just to try and pick a pass, which we were lacking last 20-25 minutes. We lacked a bit of quality to try and create more chances.”

On shots-per-game the Gills aren’t much different to the rest of League 2, averaging around 12, but with only 14 actual goals coming in 16 league fixtures - barely one a match - it’s a struggle that a new head coach will be tasked to improve quickly if the team want promotion success.