Bradley Garmston’s return at Charlton last week was described as "massive" by Gills boss Steve Lovell.

The defender had been left out against Fleetwood and Oxford, having just returned from another spell on the sidelines injured.

Garmston was back in the starting XI at The Valley and Lovell was delighted with the way the left-back handled it.

“It was a massive 70 minutes for him,” said Lovell. “He has gone through a lot with injuries, psychologically as well as physically.

“It is a big thing, when players get a reoccurrence of an injury, it is always on your mind, is it going to come back? What pleased me was that he played like there was nothing on his mind but football.”

Lovell had told Garmston to tell him when he was ready. The 24-year-old came back with a substitute appearance against Wimbledon, just days before starting at Charlton.

The Gills boss said: “It was nice for him to come to me and say he was ready because it was big for him. The first 20-25 minutes of the game at Charlton could have made or broken him.

“He was Bradley again, he was getting forward, making overlaps, getting balls in the box. He knocked some really good balls into Tom (Eaves). It was great for him.

Garmston lasted 70 minutes, giving the nod to Lovell that his time was up.

“He was honest,” said the Gills boss. “He said ‘that’s enough for me’. He could have carried on and got knackered, just for the sake of carrying on, but it was good that he came across and said that’s enough.

“We had Connor Ogivlie who could go on and he’s been great for us this year. That wasn’t a problem. It was nice for Bradley to get those 70 minutes in.”

Ogilvie’s stay for the remainder of the season is set to be confirmed by the club soon and it’s the kind of competition for places Lovell wants to see.

He said: “We have a few forwards and we can play different formations across the back, different combinations. (Defender) Ben Nugent wasn’t in the squad at Charlton but he has been brilliant. He understood the reasons he was left out, there were no other reasons than footballing ones.

“To have three centre-halves on the bench (Lacey and Ogilvie being the other options) wouldn’t have made any sense and I explained that to him. He was fine. They are all fine.

“We are all in it together. They have to keep themselves going, keep themselves fit and focused as a group rather than an XI.”