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Gillingham boss Steve Evans would love to have a crack at winning the EFL Trophy but knows he doesn’t have a squad that’s big enough.
The Gills start their 2021/22 Trophy challenge tonight (Tuesday) with an away game against Colchester United. They’ll play Ipswich Town and West Ham’s kids next month as part of the group stage.
Evans admits he needs to be careful about who he selects for the match at Colchester. He won’t want to take any risks ahead of their League 1 match at Burton Albion on Saturday but did manage to give his team some extra time off last week after the Charlton weekend game was postponed.
He said: “I had a real good conversation with Kyle Dempsey, the skipper, and he said, ‘Gaffer, of course we want to win at Colchester, of course we would love a run in it’.
“We would love to do it. When Peterborough were in the competition it is was a clear mandate of the chairman that he wanted to do well in it.
“I would say if I had three or four more in my squad, we could take that approach to be serious about it. If we had 22-23 players we could have a pop at the competition.
“But with everyone fit we are talking 18 (senior) players and two keepers, so we need to be careful. We will have always knocks and it is not a priority, it will be a mix of first team and mix of the younger ones.”
Gillingham’s players had a few days off last week, a much-needed break for some. Several had been carrying knocks and strains but Evans now hopes by the time they get to Burton on Saturday they will be in good condition.
John Akinde and Alex MacDonald are expected to be nearing a return while Vadaine Oliver was one of several who had knocks to shake off.
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