Robbie McKenzie has welcomed the competition that is expected to arrive in the January transfer window.

McKenzie scored a great solo goal at Sutton United on Thursday - Gillingham’s first in over 700 minutes of league football - but they were unable to hang on for a point and lost to a 93rd minute winner.

• More: Gillingham fans up for the cup

The Gills head into 2023 sitting bottom of League 2 but with money to spend on bolstering the squad.

McKenzie said: “Hopefully we get some help in the January transfer window, kick on and get out of where we are now.

“It definitely helps knowing there are more bodies going to be coming in, hopefully it gets more people on their toes and putting in better performances.”

Additions are welcome but the second half at Sutton showed the current crop can compete. The Gills battled back from 1-0 down to level it up through McKenzie only to lose it late on.

McKenzie said: “I do feel like we have got a team where everyone knows how everyone plays now, I feel like if we can play like we did second half and compete like that I don’t see why we can’t get out of the situation we are in.

“It hurts, getting back into the game and conceding so late, the least we deserved was a draw, I thought with the second half performance, if we play like that in every game we will be fine.

“It was two points, even three dropped, but we have to dust ourselves down, play like we did second half and keep going.

“We had chances to go and win it, I felt like we had the momentum, obviously taking a point would have been massive for us, but conceding in the last minute or so hurts.”

On his goal, scored with 12 minutes left, he said: “I was going to hit it first time but Macca (Alex MacDonald) got in the way! I had to shift it a bit, left foot into the bottom corner.”

The Gills fans weren’t happy to see their side lose again, ending the year bottom of the pile and McKenzie understands their frustration.

He said: “We are where we are in the Football League and they have every right to be frustrated, they pay their hard earned money to come and watch us play, week in week out, home and away, so we need to put in performances they can be proud of.”

Next up is a match at second placed Stevenage on Monday.

Looking ahead, McKenzie said: “It will be similar to Sutton, we will have to compete again, if we do what we did in the second half we will stand our own in the game. We will have to battle and hopefully get something out of the game.”