Alex MacDonald is back playing for Gillingham after nine months out injured

After a ‘soul destroying’ nine months out injured Gillingham midfielder Alex MacDonald won’t be taking a moment for granted this season.

MacDonald, 32, has returned to action over the summer having missed most of Gillingham’s forgettable 2021/22 campaign with a knee injury picked up in October last year.

He’s buzzing to be back involved and admits those months out injured were tough to take.

“It has been difficult,” he said. “Certainly watching what unfolded last season and knowing you can’t really help the boys, I felt so distant from it, I didn’t feel part of it for large periods because I wasn’t out there with them working, I wasn’t on the training ground, I wasn’t travelling to games. I was sat in the dark gym under the stand, trying to get fit and if I wasn’t there I was on an operating table.

“There were days I would come in, I won’t shy away from it, I didn’t want to be here, I didn’t want to be in the gym, I didn’t want to be around the place, I didn’t want to be anywhere near anyone. There were times when the last thing I wanted to do was sitting in a cold gym in December time when my little girl is 300 miles away.

“It has been really difficult, but it also makes it 10 times better now I am back involved, back out on the pitch and when I went on at Priestfield (against Portsmouth on Saturday), it had been a long time since I was out there, I looked around, took it all in and I won’t take any game, any training session, anything for granted anymore.

“So after probably the lowest point of my career last season, certainly with the things happening on the pitch and personally as well, just being on the pitch, around the lads and part of it again, I am not taking any day for granted and fingers crossed I can stay