Notts County 2 Gillingham 1

GILLINGHAM manager Neale Cooper saw for the first time on Saturday the task he requires to re-build his depleted squad.

Following the loss of nine players from last year’s pool, Cooper was able to assess what he has got left, as he begins to mould a side capable of challenging for League 1 honours.

And after Saturday’s 2-1 defeat in Gillingham’s first friendly at Notts County, he admits there is still plenty of room for improvement before the season’s opener in three weeks’ time.

Cooper said: "We are short of players. One or two have come in on trial and we’ll see a few more and keep looking next week.

"We’ll make a decision on the ones that are on trial in a few days.

"You see players on the training ground but it’s a different kettle of fish when you see them running around on the pitch.

"They (Notts County) made it hard and they were a big strong side. It was a good workout and it taught me certain things."

Gillingham had taken the lead at a baking-hot Meadow Lane through a spectacular long-range effort from Danny Spiller, but were undone by a couple of set-pieces.

Cooper used virtually all of his squad, leaving just three keepers and a trio of injury victims on the sidelines.

The management team weren’t overly concerned about the result though and were just pleased to be able to get a better picture of what they have to work with.

Cooper added: "I saw certain things that were good and certain things that aren’t so good.

"It’s better than getting a false picture and coming here and hammering in a load of goals. I sat down with Ronnie and there are certain areas that we need to strengthen.

"It’s not about winning, it’s about the players being in a match situation.

"I’m disappointed we’ve lost two goals from corners but we made that many changes there was a bit of confusion about who was picking up who.

"We had looked quite solid early on though with (Ian) Cox and (Chris) Hope, I thought the two of them did well and young Jon Wallis and (Richard) Rose as well. Darren (Byfield) also worked his socks off.

"They’ll be tired after their first game of 90 minutes. There was some good stuff, Danny Spiller got a good goal and good work and we got 45 minutes out of Iwan (Roberts)."

Meanwhile, last season’s third-choice keeper Bertrand Bossu has signed a one-year deal with League 2 side Darlington.