Gills Manager believes competition for places will be essential going forward
Peter Taylor said he has chosen to bring in more bodies during the January transfer window to ensure strength in depth for the remainder of the season.Connor Smith and Jack Marriott have joined the club since the turn of the year, with Elliott Hewitt having extended his loan deal until the end of the month, and Peter says he will need as many players as possible available in case of injuries or suspensions as the final third of the campaign approaches.
Speaking after Saturday’s game he said: “Thankfully the Chairman has allowed me to bring some extra players in and we’re going to need them, simple as that.
“You will need them with injuries, form and give some of the players a kick up the backside at times and that’s what they are there for.”
Peter gave a brief update on the injury situation, revealing that Chris Whelpdale might be out for a bit longer than first expected.
He added: “I still think he’s a couple of weeks away the way they are talking. He’s still not right, still sore running but he started this morning [Saturday].
“Hopefully it will clear up quickly and hopefully he will have a chance for next Saturday, but I wouldn’t surprise me if it's the Friday after that.
“Elliott is very close, he was in the squad but he had only trained four good sessions and most people would say you would need a couple of weeks after being out for such a long time.
“We wanted to be careful with Myles Weston, we wanted him on but we certainly didn’t want him ripping his hamstring again.
“That all looks pretty good, I’m pleased with Myles and he’s had a run out and I’m sure he’ll be fine by next Saturday.”
New signing Connor Smith also got a run out, getting 25 minutes under his belt after coming on a second half substitute in place of Bradley Dack.
Peter explained why he chose to bring on the Watford loanee at the time he did during the match.
He said: “At that particular time we needed someone else in there because they were playing through us too easily.
“We needed another midfield player who could protect is a little bit to stop the flow otherwise Leon and Adam were going to be having too much work to do for the rest of the afternoon.”