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Gillingham picked up two more injuries on Tuesday night - just hours after another player was ruled out for the season.
Manager Steve Evans hasn’t known anything like it before. His squad had been plagued by injury problems since the start of the season and will now miss Jacob Mellis for the rest of the campaign.
That news came hours before goalkeeper Jack Bonham and defender Ryan Jackson both went off injured in the midweek game at Ipswich Town.
Evans was looking forward to bringing out the best in former Chelsea player Mellis this season - he scored a special goal against Oxford - but those hopes have been dashed after the 29-year-old suffered a knee injury.
Mellis is the second Gillingham player to be ruled out for the season after Stuart O’Keefe suffered a broken leg against Coventry City in the League Cup.
Speaking about Mellis, Evans commented: “He has torn a cartilage in such a bad way that it is into the root and that’s end of season, simple.
“He is our most naturally gifted, technical, no.10 at the club and I think he was just settling in and producing some super performances, but we have to endure that.
“We have had to endure Stuart, we have had to endure them all. I have never known anything like it. I am completely scratching my head as to what we will do.
“I will talk to the boss (chairman Paul Scally) and see what we can do. If we can’t do anything it’s a problem.”
Evans brought Kyle Dempsey back into the team on Tuesday, after he returned from a second injury of the season. Striker Vadaine Oliver came off the bench but was described as only 80% fit.
Tom O’Connor is another who has had a stop-start season. His return to Gills was interrupted early on by an international call-up but could now be out for a month through injury.
Jackson could be missing for a month to six weeks but hopes are that goalkeeper Jack Bonham won’t be too much of a problem. He left the field on Tuesday after a neck injury when landing awkwardly. Gills’ only back-up is 18-year-old Joe Walsh.
Evans said: “We only have 18-19 players, it is a bigger test as I have ever had as a manager. I’ve never seen anything like it and it’s all different injuries, not just soft tissues.”
The Gills boss has said he will bring in a replacement for Bonham if he is ruled out for the weekend visit of Sunderland.
Coventry loan pair Declan Drysdale and Josh Eccles had different issues. Drysdale attended a funeral in a tier three location on Monday and the Gills are awaiting a Covid-19 test result before reintroducing him to the group. Eccles celebrated becoming a father at the start of the week and only returned on Tuesday, so was included on the bench, to at least make a complete squad.
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