Gillingham manager Neil Harris was close to double signing last week

Gillingham boss Neil Harris revealed that a potential signing failed to materialise over the weekend.

The Gills are keen to add to their squad and Harris disclosed that they were close to landing two players in the last few days.

“I don’t want to put timescales on it,” said Harris, on whether new faces could be in the building this week.

“We were really close on Thursday and it failed, we were possibly really close to another one on (Saturday morning) and it didn’t happen.

“Things have gone very quiet as a lot of players that were on fringes of other teams played in the cup on Tuesday, and then the teams have gone through they’re going to play the next round but if they’ve gone out, where do they stand now?

“I think there’s a lot of conversations for managers to have on players. We have to continue to be patient and cut our cloth accordingly but also I can’t wait all the time for people.

“If I can’t get plan A, I need to get plan B because what is clear is that we need a little bit more strength in depth than we’ve got at the moment.”

It would be easy to suggest Gills need reinforcements in defence after the 3-0 defeat at Tranmere.

But Harris, who has been lined with Portsmouth’s Haji Mnoga, is in the market for a defender and a striker.

“We’re looking to add to the group,” said Harris. “We can’t just say bolster at the back because we lost 3-0. We haven’t scored a goal so we could talk about attacking players. I have to get the balance right.

“On a whole, the group has performed really well and at a good level - until Saturday. I’ve got to make sure I don’t say too much and make sure we’re not judged solely on one performance.

“We were going to win the league last Saturday night and now we’re going to get relegated