Around the grounds: Gillingham

Our pre-season started really well, but probably hasn’t ended the way we would have hoped.

We won six in a row in March and April last season and hopes were high that we could do really well, especially if we could keep Jason Brown and Darren Byfield.

Before either of them had made any decisions, we’d signed Gary Mulligan, Dave Ndumbu-Nsungu, Mark Bentley, Duncan Jupp and Dean McDonald, who are all very good signings.

But then Byfield and Brown both left – for Millwall and Blackburn respectively – and that’s left us without two vital players. Brown has been replaced by Kelvin Jack – who hasn’t even made a pre-season appearance – but no-one has replaced Byfield.

We also signed Wycombe midfielder Clint Easton and started pre-season with a 2-0 win at Folkestone, before losing 2-1 to the United Arab Emirates in France. Since then we’ve lost to QPR, Bromley and West Ham, only scoring once more in the whole campaign.

It is that lack of a goalscorer that is concerning us the most. We do also need a back up goalkeeper and another centre back, as I think a full season of Ian Cox will finish me off.

We won’t struggle like we did last year, but we won’t go up either, I fear. We should be in the top 10, and could even get into the top six.