Gillingham manager Neil Harris on fringe players, Callum Harriott contract decision, Lincoln loan man Hakeeb Adelakun, Jordan Green's future and more

Those on the fringes of Gillingham’s matchday squad are playing their part in the team’s upturn in form.

Competition has increased dramatically since the January transfer window, with players now fighting just to make the matchday squad. Even the captain can’t get in.

Manager Neil Harris has plenty of players at his disposal and put on a 60-minute practice game during the week to give those in a reserve a much-needed match.

“It was excellent,” he said of Tuesday's match. “It was a great exercise, an opportunity for all the lads who have needed minutes, like Stuey (O’Keefe), Ethan Coleman, Jayden Clarke, Hakeeb Adelakun, Tristan Abrahams, Jake Turner and younger lads like Bailey Akehurst and Ike Orji (a recent addition from Chatham Town) who got minutes as well. Everyone came through unscathed.

“It is going to be one of my challenges this week to pick an 18 - or 17 without a homegrown player - it is another challenge just to do that and credit to the players that are missing out at the moment. They need support but they keep driving the players infront of them by performing well in training.

“We have extra numbers now and they are quality players. What you tend to get with players that are trying to impress every day is that they drive standards and they make demands in their own way, not by voice as youngsters, but in the quality and energy, they put their own demands on people around them to keep up.”

Aside from a Kent Senior Cup fixture, Ethan Coleman and Jayden Clarke - January signings from Leyton Orient and Dulwich Hamlet respectively - have yet to play for the Gills.

Asked if they would feature this season, Harris said: “Quite possibly. It might depend on where we are in the division and how quickly they adapt to