Mark McCammon has been challenged by Gillingham boss Andy Hessenthaler to prove that the club don’t need to spend money on another striker.

Hessenthaler has recently stepped up his pursuit of Aldershot’s Marvin Morgan but is ready to give McCammon, pictured, the opportunity to show what he can do.

The Gills manager said: "I’ve given him the carrot by saying ‘can he be our main man?’

"He has been out for some time and hasn’t played a lot of football for the last year. He has to prove now that he could stop me from going out and getting another striker. It’s down to the lad now."

McCammon is recovering from surgery on a knee and hamstring injury but could face Hearts at Priestfield on Thursday.

Hessenthaler said: "I haven’t seen him in a game yet, but he’s been working very hard pre-season. He felt he didn’t get a chance last year and I said I’ll give him a chance."

The Gills were quoted in Saturday’s Sun newspaper as tabling a bid of £200,000 for Morgan but Hessenthaler rubbished the figure.

"Someone is being mischievous there because that is certainly not the case," he said. "We certainly haven’t got that type of money."

Chairman Paul Scally has already spoken to Shots manager Kevin Dillon about the striker but Hessenthaler said: "I don’t think we actually made a bid. The chairman had a short conversation with Kevin Dillon and I don’t think it went any further than that."

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