Midfielder Josh Pritchard is keen to put a frustrating start to life at Gillingham behind him after an ankle injury in the summer meant he was sidelined for the whole of pre-season.

He played 90 minutes for the development side on Wednesday afternoon as he continues to try and earn his first Football League start in England.

The 21-year-old said: “It was good to be back and getting a full 90 minutes. It is about getting match fitness back. It has been frustrating but it is all starting to come together now, apart from a knock (on Wednesday), other than that, it is all going well.

“When you don’t play in pre-season, your match fitness isn’t there and you are struggling to get back into the team and show what you can do because you are not playing as many games as everyone else."

Pritchard began his career as a youth at Manchester United and was a pro at Fulham before being released in the summer. Before signing for Gillingham, however, his only competitive league action came at Norwegian side Tromso and Finnish outfit Honka.

It was while playing in Finland that he first picked up an ankle injury. That flared up again in the summer while trying to get himself in peak condition.

He said: “I came back and it was all fine but I did the same thing again when running in the gym and that took me out for another couple of months.

"The physios here are good and I have been working hard with them and been doing extra running. I am there now.”

Read the full interview in Friday's Medway Messenger.