Strikers Mikael Mandron and Lewis Walker both find the net during a productive week for Gillingham

Manager Neil Harris has welcomed the friendly rivalry developing between his strikers.

Mikael Mandron responded to Lewis Walker’s midweek double in the EFL Trophy by scoring the opener against Crewe in League 2 on Saturday.

Competition is something Harris has been craving for this season but injuries in a small squad, coupled with a slow start to life back in the basement division, has often left little room for debate.

Both Mandron and Walker will have wanted more goals by now - they've got five between them - but the team has only just started to find the net this season. Harris will be hoping the goals are going to come around more frequently from now on.

“That (competition) has to be the aim,” said the manager. “You want them to get to double figures as quickly as possible. That seems a long way off at the moment, it has to be one step at a time, but you want them to play well and I want to be debating who I want to play.

"I want to be thinking, ‘who is in form and who is scoring goals?’ Rather than thinking ‘who is the best without the ball while we are finding ways of scoring a goal?

“Where we are now progressing a bit, we are looking a bit of a threat, we are getting players into the right positions.

“I am learning about the strength of the players and what makes them tick and what they need to do in training to make them better on a matchday. They can’t work any harder with me, to want to be goalscorers and getting into the right positions.

“Sometimes I have to stay on the sidelines and shout a little more vocally than other times because they switch off and it is just getting them up to speed on what we need as a team.”

Fellow forward Scott Kashket, meanwhile, has continued to impress, his energy proving to be a