Gillingham manager Neil Harris accepts he may be making last-minute changes to his team on Boxing Day as illness continues to hit his group.

Harris was only able to name 16 players in his squad at Wolves on Tuesday night from a possible 20 and the wave of illness has continued throughout the latter part of the week as the team prepare for a huge Boxing Day clash.

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The manager, who has been suffering himself, said: “I can now see where my players are coming from, those lads who have had to miss games, at the time you think, ‘just get on with it lads’, but now I have been privy to the bug that other clubs are getting as well.

“It is just another of those things, Covid has changed the world and we understand everything seems more dangerous than it was in the past, it is not so important about me, it is about the players and getting them healthy, they are a lot younger and fitter than me so they get over things a bit quicker.”

Harris was able to welcome two players back from illness on Friday for training but had another pull out.

“It’s not an ideal scenario preparing for games but one step at a time,” said the manager.

“The problem with the bug going around at the moment is that it isn’t a quick fix is it for people? I am talking about in general life as well, different industries.

“All we can hope is that my players are young and fit and healthy and they get over it quickly and we have a lot stronger squad to pick from than we did at Wolves.

“I can’t control it, with soft tissue injuries and things you feel a little bit responsible as a manager and certainly your staff feel responsible on your behalf but there is absolutely nothing we can do it about this, with kids bringing flu back from school or whatever, you can’t control it.

“I am fine with it, it is part of the job and you have to adapt last minute as well as we did on Tuesday, if I don’t pick the team or formation until the last minute then it is not an issue.”

Robbie McKenzie is one player back from injury for the Gills although the wet weather didn’t help on Friday.

Harris, who was dealing with the ice last week, said: “He tried to get on the grass Friday but it was slightly different because of the flood in Gillingham. Which was bizarre, we couldn’t get out the other day because of the snow and it was rock hard and (on Friday) it was flooded. We will try and get on the grass Saturday with a view to having some involvement in this one, if not then the one after.

“Stuart O’Keefe missed the last league game but came through the other night and seemed to come through okay, so it is about the lads that have being ill.”

A few of his midfielders are nursing injuries.

Dominic Jefferies has an achilles problem which he hopes isn’t too serious, Shaun Williams had a tight hamstring against Wolves and O’Keefe has been managing his knee for the last few months.

Harris was asked if anyone from the youth team was close to being involved, to help. The under-18s are doing well in the FA Youth Cup, through to the fourth round.

“No,” was the answer from the manager, who added: “The gulf between 17-year-olds playing in the first team is huge, we have seen Joe (Gbode) have an opportunity with a couple of games, he is a standout performer in the youth team but playing against 16-17-year-olds is completely different to playing not just league football but league football with the pressure of being bottom.

“As much as we like some of the lads coming through, I think some of them have bright futures at this football club, we can only bring players in when they are ready and ready doesn’t just come about when they are good enough, it is physically, mentally, can they handle it and discipline? That is a big one. Is their discipline right to be involved? If it isn’t they won’t be involved.”