Gillingham are hoping for good news on the injury front with the possibility that both Jacob Mellis and Stuart O’Keefe could play again this season.

A knee injury looked to have ruled playmaker Mellis out for the rest of the campaign while O’Keefe suffered a broken leg and ligament damage just 10 days into the new season and was also initially ruled out for the remainder.

Former Chelsea youngster Mellis has recently undergone an operation, removing tissue from his knee, and the club will find out in a fortnight whether or not he could return to play before then facing more surgery in the summer.

Fellow midfielder and vice captain O’Keefe is back running on the training ground and could return in February is he stays on track.

Gills boss Steve Evans admits the Mellis situation is “50-50” over whether he can play again this term. If he gets the nod from the consultant when they meet towards the end of the month, he could potentially be just weeks away from a return.

It was Mellis who agreed with his consultant to an operation that only fixed part of the problem in his knee, in a bid to give him at least some chance of playing this season. It’s now a waiting game to see if it pays off.

Evans said: “He had the decision to make and fair play to Jacob, he has got the heart the size of a lion, he is a great kid. He desperately wants to play football and his words to me were, ‘if I have a chance to play then I want to play’.

“He was coming into a great run of form and so we will see where it goes. To get him back would be a tremendous boost for us.”

Evans certainly doesn’t rate his chances of finding a replacement for Mells in the January transfer window.

He said: “I would task any Gills fan out there, if you know a player with the ability of Jacob Mellis (within Gills’ budget) then email me, get in touch, but they aren’t out there, they are not available, if they are I will be gobsmacked.

“It’s no point finding one who could be a Jacob Mellis in three years, we haven’t got three years. They are hard to find.

“If you ask Stuart O’Keefe or Kyle Dempsey, who was the player in training they didn’t want to play against, it would be Jacob Mellis because he was so clever. He was really coming on with his performances, they were becoming really special.

“Other managers were talking about him all the time and we just have to see in two or three weeks whether it is the same prognosis that we got a few weeks ago, that he is out for the season. The medical team have told me it's 50-50 and they could be saying ‘with a bit of care we could get him through.’”

If it’s good news, Mellis could even be back before the festive schedule.

As for the latest on O’Keefe’s injury, Evans commented: “He has been working ever so hard, he really has. To give supporters a guideline, he is probably up to 75% speed, that is not kicking a ball or playing.

"He is working round the clock with Gary Hemens (the physio) and James Russell (the fitness coach). They have done outstanding work with him and they have my thanks for that. Hopefully they can keep that going because we miss Stuart. If we can get him back playing for any part of this season then it will be a boost for all of us, the same with Jacob.”

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