Ricky Holmes’ hopes of showing Oxford what they’re missing have been dashed.

Holmes’ season-long loan at the Kassam Stadium was cut short when a back injury saw him sent back to parent club Sheffield United in January.

The winger moved to Gillingham on loan instead and immediately targeted this Saturday’s home game against the U’s for his debut.

His recovery is going well but manager Steve Lovell has ruled him out.

Lovell said: “No, he won’t be fit for Oxford.

“With Ricky, it could be that all of a sudden he’s right to go but it’s an injury we’ve really got to be careful on and make sure he’s 120% right to play because we don’t want him to have a recurrence.

“I think he might have thought of the Oxford game but we weren’t too bothered when he came back, just as long as he comes back fully fit because he’s a quality player and we’d love him available for selection.

“We’ve still got 11 games to go, so hopefully we’ll see him in a Gillingham shirt pretty soon.”

It’s 18th versus 19th at Priestfield with Gills a point clear of the visitors, who’ve won back-to-back games.

Gills are in good form themselves, taking seven points from the last 12.

Lovell said: “We mainly concentrate on ourselves and I think we’re playing well at the moment.

“We’re all enjoying what we’re doing and I think it’s quite settled.

“Supporters will look at the table and think this one’s really important but I think they’re all just as important and any wins you can pick up will be crucial.

“That’s why I think Saturday (1-1 draw at Fleetwood) was really disappointing.

“It would have been lovely to have another two points but they got the goal in injury time.”

Gillingham have moved three points clear of the bottom four with their recent run.

Things are looking up and Lovell feels his January loan signings have made the difference.

He said: “The big change for me was getting those loan boys in.

“We were going through a period where we were pretty stale, that’s the word I’d use, because we had people playing when they weren’t 100% fit because they had to play and so perhaps weren’t doing the things we were asking.

“I’ll name names, the likes of Callum Reilly and Regan Charles-Cook, and we were asking them to go out and do jobs when they weren’t quite ready for it because of injuries.

“It wasn’t fair on them and it wasn’t fair on the rest of the boys.”