There is an early selection headache for Gillingham boss Neil Harris over who will begin the season in goal.

Jake Turner impressed as he came through 90 minutes in Gills’ last first-team friendly, which they won 1-0 at Dagenham & Redbridge on Saturday, with a well-earned clean sheet.

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The 24-year-old ex-Bolton and Newcastle player will compete with Glenn Morris, 39, for Gillingham’s place between the sticks ahead of their opening-day League 2 trip to last term’s play-off Finalists Stockport County this Saturday.

“Jake’s been excellent in pre-season,” said Harris. “I’ve got two No.1s.

“Last pre-season, I felt I had a No.1 and a No.1.5. I had Glenn Morris and Jake Turner as a No.1.5.

“As the season went on, I think Jake made 17 appearances last year and, with every game, he got better. I think pre-season he has shown himself to be a No.1 as well.

“It’s certainly a decision for me to have to make.”

But Harris says the days of picking his starting line-up a week ahead of the start of the proper action are well behind him, senior players Shaun Williams, Jonny Williams, Conor Masterson and Oli Hawkins among those who were sidelined for the friendly at Victoria Park.

“I think anybody that saw the team on Saturday on paper would have gone ‘Oh, there’s six or seven names missing’ and a couple on the subs bench that others might consider to be starters,” he said.

“My days of picking a team the Saturday before the season starts, and that’s the XI, those days are gone. Football doesn’t work like that anymore.

“Saturday was just an extension of pre-season, making sure, first and foremost, I saw combinations, that players were fit and, ultimately, we had a threshold of minutes we wanted everyone to get to.

“Saturday was about hitting those targets.”