Gillingham had an international goal scorer this week, as the club bowed out of the Kent Senior Cup will all eyes focused on the long trip to Rotherham. 

For young Irish defender Conor McManus, his goal put the young Irish 2-1 ahead in their 3-1 win and ultimately play-off qualification for the U21s in their contest with their English counterparts in Cork.  

Gillingham boss Gareth Ainsworth meanwhile was at the Bauvill watching the young Gills bow out of the Kent Senior Cup he told us, “People were coming up to me at the ground and I was very pleased to see the game except for the fact that he then went off after sixty-eight minutes.  

“We’re all really proud of him – he’s my player and it will be great to have him on the bus with us going to Rotherham at the weekend.” 

“We always seem to be carrying one or two injuries and with that in mind we do still have one or two completely ruled out. There were some provisional dates for some and there is light at the end of the tunnel. Garath (McLeary) went off on Saturday in the draw with Newport with his back and one or two others have knocks. 

“Incidentally Garath wasn’t going to play ninety minutes anyway and would have come off before the end anyway! We are looking strong but not as good as we could be – I’m happy with where we are and happy with what we have to take to Rotherham.” 

Ainsworth was nominated for Septembers Manager of the month and whilst acknowledging the nomination told us, “whilst it’s great, for a lot of managers it’s always nice to win at the back end of the season over what come with it – there are the awards that come with momentum and the good place that comes with it and there was no way that I would have got that last season! 

“So hopefully I will this season which will mean we will have a good strong team out – flattered to be nominated and we are all really, really pleased for James (Brophy) to be nominated for the player award too after scoring some cracking goals!”