Gillingham’s run of defeats has convinced manager Steve Evans that he needs to move some of his fringe players on.

A series of injuries has left Evans without many of his star men and that has coincided with a worrying run of results, losing their last five in League 1 and without a win in any competition since mid-October.

He hopes to use the January transfer window to make the changes.

Evans said: “You can’t go in at any competitive level and win football matches when you are far from right and everyone knows we are far from right at the minute.

“I think the reality for some of them is that they will probably leave in January, they will be made available because they have proven not to be good enough for the level we are trying to aspire to play at.

“But we say to them their individual performances at this stage are crucial because if it is not to play at Priestfield then it is to play for another club as high as you can.

“I don’t see in that starting eleven (on Saturday) any more than three or four regulars starting in League 1 if we are right.

“We have to first and foremost win football matches and at the moment we are not good enough or competitive enough in certain areas. We lost five or six 50-50s in the middle of the park and I am not sure that is down to a lack of determination of whether the ball breaks in the wrong direction.

“We have never been in this type of run as a management team but we are only as good as the troops who play for you.”