Danny Spiller is shown the red card against Crewe Picture: Barry Goodwin

by Luke Cawdell

Gillingham will go into next weekend’s game missing FOUR players through suspension.

The Gills’ hopes of getting a result at promotion-chasing Cheltenham have been hampered by disciplinary problems, with the midfield area decimated.

Danny Spiller will serve a three-game ban following his red card, while Charlie Lee will also sit out the next three matches, as he picked up his 15th booking of the season to trigger an automatic ban.

Lewis Montrose will be out for the next two, after reaching 10 bookings, while Joe Martin has one more game to sit out after picking up a three-match ban for his third red card of the season at Plymouth.

With boss Andy Hessenthaler also seeing Curtis Weston go under the surgeon’s knife to deal with a cartilage injury – leaving him struggling to return by the end of the season – the selection problems are not going away.

"We can’t afford to lose all these players with the amount of injuries and illness we have around the place at the moment," said the Gills boss.

Hessenthaler will also be waiting on news of knocks to midfield pair Jack Payne and Oliver Lee picked up at the weekend.

"It is chop and change at the moment and I have never known anything like it since I have been in the game," he said.

"It has been crazy. Everyone gets injured but never like this."