Gillingham are unable to say when striker Oli Hawkins will be fit to start the season.

Hawkins is suffering from a condition called plantar fasciitis, which has been causing him pain in the heel. The striker hasn’t featured this season because of it and there’s no current date for a return.

Manager Neil Harris has described it as a “tough, horrible injury” and it’s described by the NHS as a problem that’s caused by straining the part of your foot that connects your heel bone to your toes.

Offering an update this week, Harris says Hawkins has been working on the training pitch with medical and sports science staff but it’s slow progress.

“He has been on the grass for the last two weeks,” said the manager.

“He takes two steps forward and one step back. The whole time he is taking two forward and one back he is progressing, but every week that goes by is a week away from that top-up of minute he’ll need.

“He played the first two or three games of pre-season and got to 45 minutes and hasn’t gone past that. Minutes will become an issue and we aren’t going to see Oli for weeks now.”

Hawkins lasted 45 minutes in the pre-season opener at Dover but was taken off midway through the first half against Como. He returned to training 48 hours later but was then out for a week after experiencing pain when landing from a jump.

It’s been stop, start since then.

“It is so tough to get right,” said the manager. “There are different ways of doing it, different treatments, it is trial and error and there is no stone left unturned, from the football club, who are massively supportive, and from Oli as well.”

Harris said there was no time scale on a return, adding: “That’s a frustration for all of us, and no people more so than Oli Hawkins and Gary Hemens our first team physio.

“He’s desperate to be fit and we’re desperate to have a date and I am fed up with asking the same question and the physio is getting fed up with the same answer.

“I have never suffered with a plantar fasciitis injury but a very good friend of mine Gary Alexander at Millwall suffered with it when he played under Kenny (Jackett) and I never forget how horrible it is.

“He is on the grass, he is getting there slowly, we are all being really patient but we do want him back quickly because he is a great lad, but also a really useful player for us as well and I want him back training fully asap.”