Gillingham loan goalkeeper Glenn Morris on Crawley Town, 3G pitches, understudy Jake Turner and the visit of Steve Evans' Stevenage in League 2

Goalkeeper Glenn Morris admits he’s feeling ‘five years younger’ after returning to train on grass pitches.

Morris, 38, is playing at Gillingham on a loan deal until January after joining from League 2 rivals Crawley Town, where he would usually be preparing for matches on the 3G surface at Horsham Town.

The goalkeeper has won plenty of awards during his time at Crawley, and has spoken of his fondness for the club, but when it comes to training, nothing beats the grass for him.

He said: “I probably feel five years younger than I did at Crawley to be honest, just because you can join in with more training, I am training longer, I am working harder, I feel good for it, it has been brilliant.

“Training on grass is something I haven’t done for six years, it is making a lot of difference.

“I was restricted a bit in what I could do in training (on the 3G), for me personally, but coming to grass, it is soft and it is perfect. Our pitches are watered well and it is really good, I can’t complain.”

Morris has held onto the no.1 shirt this season ahead of former Newcastle youngster Jake Turner, having joined just before the start of the season to replace injured Charlton stopper Ashley Maynard-Brewer.

His parent club are having a tough time of it at the moment, sitting bottom of the League 2 table. They have just sacked manager Kevin Betsy after four months in charge, having won just one in 12 games.

Morris admits he hasn’t had a lot of contact with his parent club as he concentrates on keeping the Gills clear of trouble.

“Obviously that is not really my concern,” he said. “I am on loan here, I can only concentrate on Gillingham and playing here. It is obviously not nice to see. I have had a lot of good times there (at Crawley), it