Aiden O'Brien, Cheye Alexander and Shaun Williams start for Gillingham at Rochdale as manager Neil Harris rotates inform squad

Gillingham’s three changes for their weekend trip to Rochdale were all obvious ones for boss Neil Harris.

Harris admitted he could have made more as he made use of his extra resources to rotate his team for the match at Rochdale. He brought Aiden O’Brien in for his debut, returned Shaun Williams to midfield and switched the full-back positions with Cheye Alexander getting a start.

It meant places on the bench for Tom Nichols, Alex MacDonald and David Tutonda, all of whom came on in the second half of the 2-0 win at Rochdale.

“I did consider more - it’s getting that balance between tinkering too much,” said Harris.

“Macca coming out was an obvious one just because of where he has been at injury-wise and his age and we had back-to-back-games.

“Shaun Williams going in was an obvious one because we really missed him the other night, anchoring the midfield.

“Aiden was ready to start in my opinion and maybe Tom was the one that would have been a risk, pushing him again.”

Nichols was struggling with an injury recently and missed training ahead of the game at Mansfield last week. He missed almost a month of football during his move from Crawley to the Gills. O'Brien had been pushing for a start after impressing off the bench.

MacDonald has played more than most this season, having come back from a career-threatening injury. Williams picked up an groin strain recently and missed starting Tuesday’s game against Grimsby as a precaution. Tutonda’s form had dipped in recent games while Alexander has been another to have performed when coming on as a substitute.

Harris said: “I thought David Tutonda, since he has come back from injury has been one of our best performers, arguably our best. He has really gone to a new level for me, I