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Scott Kashket’s injury led to a reshuffle and a recall for Gillingham’s other strikers at the weekend.
While Lewis Walker was handed his first league start for the Gills, there was a return to the first team squad for Joe Gbode, who is effectively on a dual registration with non-league Hastings United.
Neither managed to make the kind of impact needed to penetrate a well organised Mansfield Town team who were too good for the Gills on the day and Harris admitted they missed their lively forward.
Kashket has scored one of the two goals the Gills have scored so far this season in League 2 but it’s his all-round game that had been helping the side build confidence after a tough start.
Harris said: “Kash has played really well, a real positive for us and such a nuisance up the pitch, he stretches teams and doesn’t give centre-halves a moment’s rest, losing him was a real blow.
“Lewis Walker deserves an opportunity, he is a centre-forward in the football club, he has been in Italy for a period and he will get better with time back in the English game.
“Joe Gbode came back from Hastings, he has scored on loan, done well for us pre-season. No disrespect to the youth team and to Hastings but to (go from there to) the first team here is a massive gulf. Why not give the young man a chance?”
Both Walker and Gbode put in the effort but couldn’t find a way through against Mansfield. Teen striker Gbode is still on the youth books and has been on a work experience deal at Isthmian League Hastings, scoring three in three for them. The Gills have the flexibility of taking him back when they see fit.
Harris is aware that they need to think about the players’ long-term future rather than a quick fix for the first team.
He said: “There is a bit of flexibility to it, (we have) just got to be mindful it is not just about what is best for us to score a goal on one day, it is what is best for Joe Gbode’s future for the football club.
“We want Joe to be a big part of this football club moving forward. It has happened in the past where we have had a small squad and players have been left to sit on the bench week after week and never get on and then don’t progress as footballers, we have to make sure we do the right thing by Joe.”
