The race is on for Matty Willock to be fit for the season opener at Doncaster.

Former Manchester United youngster Willock returned from illness to play 90 minutes for Gillingham in the game against Southend United on Friday night.

He had missed the previous weekend with a virus and boss Steve Evans says the midfielder was pushing himself near the limit to complete the full game.

Evans said: “Matty is a great player and he needed that. He has been working so hard behind the scenes but missed a big weekend and so that was important, which is why we left him on the pitch.

“The live data on the side of the pitch showed us he was working really hard and almost at his maximum, but we left him out there for a reason, to get him through that and he did it very successfully.”

Evans said after the game that he was “getting pretty close” to knowing his team to face Doncaster next weekend, with just one position uncertain.

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Whether Willock has the fitness to be involved remains to be seen.

Assistant boss Paul Raynor admitted the illness Willock suffered was worse than they first thought.

“He has been quite poorly,” said Evans’ right-hand man.

“We thought it might have been a bit of flu, that he would be off for one day, two at the most, but it knocked him for six. He did come back in after two days and he felt unwell when he did a little bit of work so we had to take him back a notch.

“We thought he did well, showed a lot of energy, but he is still rusty and a bit behind the other guys having had three or four days off the training pitch.

“That would have done him the world of good.”

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