Attacking midfielder Ben Reeves is delighted to be back from injury and the Gills need him.

Gillingham have made their worst ever goalscoring start to a season but Reeves has the attacking ability to make things happen upfront. He came off the bench late on Saturday in the 2-0 defeat to Northampton.

“I am looking forward to getting back playing,” said the 30-year-old, having missed the previous six league games through injury. "The sooner the better for me, hopefully I can help the team.

“I want to have a big an impact as I can as soon as I can, I don’t believe we should be where we are, especially with this manager in charge, one of the best managers you can get in the football league, we need to do him justice and get up the football league as soon as possible.”

Reeves believed things were starting to click for him before his injury, although absences elsewhere this season has seen him utilised in a more defensive role at times. But with the likes of Stuart O’Keefe, Shaun Williams and Dom Jefferies now all fit, he should be free to attack.

“I tore my quad and I was gutted,” he said of his past injury. “I don’t think I spoke three words for the next three days, I was enjoying playing again and definitely playing for this manager.

“I feel like we have a good relationship, the only disappointing thing was the lack of goals, I like to score goals from midfield and he was pushing me to do that, we were having regular conversations of how I could get into those areas, we were getting close, so to get that injury was gutting.

“I got injured with literally the last kick of a training session, that was it, I was out for five weeks. I was enjoying my football, felt like I was close to being able to help the team with goals and stuff, a few chances maybe not going my way. Goals and assists are what I hope to bring as soon as I can.”

Reeves was eased back into the team on Saturday, playing the last 10 minutes.

He’ll be expected to play more of a part against AFC Fylde in the FA Cup first round replay tomorrow (Tuesday) night.

An improvement from the weekend infront of goal is certainly required to avoid an upset.

Reflecting on Saturday’s performance, he said: “The feeling is disappointment, I am not saying we were the better team but there wasn’t much in the game first half, we had a lot of the ball in their defensive half and we need to make more use of it.

“We had a couple of big chances and on another day they go in. At the moment we need to change that, the sooner the better, hopefully we can do that on Tuesday and build from there, we didn’t build from last Tuesday, we need a win and get back to winning habits. It’s a big game for us.”