Gillingham manager Gareth Ainsworth expects a busy week on the transfer front with deadline day looming as injuries continue to hit the team

Gillingham manager Gareth Ainsworth expects a busy week ahead as he looks to patch up his injury-hit squad with new signings.

The Gills have suffered with a number of injury problems since the start of pre-season.

Kadeem Harris picked up a serious-looking knee injury in the game at Fleetwood, just a week after captain Liam Gordon suffered a bad one of his own. Armani Little has also aggravated a previous issue.

The Gills are already utilising emergency loans to fill the goalkeeper slot as summer signing Ollie Wright has yet to play a minute.

Another summer recruit, Sam Tabares, got injured in his first pre-season outing at Ebbsfleet, Ethan Coleman hasn’t been able to feature; Garath McCleary is out again after last week’s appearance against Walsall and Bradley Dack hasn’t played since the warm-up game at Dover over a month ago.

The Gills have also sold defender Sam Gale and forward Seb Palmer-Houlden this summer and have yet to replace either.

Speaking after Saturday’s game at Fleetwood, Ainsworth said: “I'm trying to get two, maybe three more faces in before the window closes. Kadeem’s injury probably makes it a little bit more urgent now, and we'll have to do the job there.

“We've identified a few now. I've given the yeses, and it's just about getting them in, which is tough, and I understand that. We'll see where we go with that.

“I think it's going to be busy [this week]. I don't think I'm going to get much sleep. After the Chesterfield game [on September 1], there's still about three hours left of the window. So let's see where we go.

“It's tough because everyone wants the best players. It's money, it's agents, it's timing, it's clubs, it's everything that comes into it. I know behind the scenes the boys are working