by Luke Cawdell

Gillingham manager Mark Stimson is hoping his team can hold their own in League 1 until his injured stars return.

Last season’s player of the year Simon King joins midfielder Stuart Lewis and forward Dennis Oli on the sidelines for Saturday's match at home to Swindon.

King and Lewis will be out for several months while Stimson is also sweating on the fitness of summer signing Kevin Maher (ankle).

"It will be great to start the season but it’s just unfortunate that we’re not going to be at our strongest," said Stimson.

"We’re going to be hampered by injuries and the news on Simon King is not good at all. He’s going to be out for months rather than weeks.

"With a full squad we will surprise a lot of teams this year.

"We just have to make sure we get off to a decent start so, when these boys do come back in, we can have a real good go at it.

"The potential in the group is fantastic and what we want to do is try to bring it to the fore straight away."

Loan signing Josh Gowling will step in for King at the back while youngster Jack Payne is on standby should Maher
fail to shake off his injury. He is rated "50-50" to make the match.

Adam Miller is fully fit after a pre-season knock and young striker Andy Pugh (groin) is back in training. Oli (knee) could be back for next week’s trip to Tranmere.

Stimson is likely to include new signings Rashid Yussuff and Jacob Erskine on the bench after the pair signed one-year deals this week.

Supporters are reminded that Saturday’s game kicks-off at 12.30pm.

Don't miss our 8-page Gills pre-season supplement in Friday's Medway Messenger.