Gillingham v Carlisle preview

Cumbrians take long road to face Gills

Last updated: 4th December 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Gillingham v Carlisle preview

Stimson: Could make changes

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Gillingham manager Mark Stimson could be forced to make changes for Carlisle's visit to Priestfield.

Stimson admitted a couple of first-team players have flu and missed training on Thursday morning while a further player picked up a thigh strain in the midweek defeat by Leyton Orient.

Meanwhile, long-term absentees Danny Jackman and Simon King have had differing news this week.

Both went to see consultants about their shoulder and ankle ligament injuries respectively. Jackman was told he could be back in January while King will be out for longer.

Gillingham have no suspensions for the match but Josh Gowling faces his former side knowing one more yellow card would incur a ban as he sits on nine bookings.

Carlisle go into the game on the back of two wins this week, including a 3-2 midweek victory against Hartlepool.

But manager Greg Abbott will again be without the services of Marc Bridge-Wilkinson, Richard Offiong, David Raven, Simon Lakeland and Paul Thirlwell for the 700-mile round trip.

Bridge-Wilkinson is still out with a knee problem while Offiong is missing after tweaking a knee ligament in training last week.

Raven is on the long road to recovery from a hip injury and Lakeland is still not ready to return from a medial ligament problem, despite beginning training again.

Skipper Thirlwell is expected to be out for another seven days with an Achilles injury.

But the news regarding midfielder Adam Clayton is more positive. The 20-year-old was on the bench against Hartlepool after taking a boot to the knee and is available.

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