Gillingham striker Adam Birchall’s knee ligament injury may or may not keep him out for the entire season.

The 27 year old former Dover Athletic striker was signed by The Gills last summer, but injured his cruciate knee ligaments in a pre-season friendly at Welling United.

Some eight months on and after an operation, Birchall was hoping to play some part of Gillingham’s run in, but had been told by a specialist on Monday that he will now miss the entire season:

Commenting on his facebook page, Birchall was clearly disappointed by the news:

“Been to see the specialist tonight not good news I’m afraid, won’t be playing again this season can’t believe it.

“I’m so frustrated but if the knees not ready then it’s out of my hands.”

However, it seems there is still a chance that he may play some part of Gillingham’s League Two run in after Club Physio James Barker had this to say to the club’s official website:

“He’s been getting a little niggle and we are investigating the cause of this further before we move on to the next stage of his rehab.”

“He’s very close, but part of the process of a long injury is these niggles and setbacks, but we are confident that as soon as we clear this up we can puch on and have no more problems.”

As for whether Birchall would be out for the entire season, Barker said that statement was a little premature:

“Yes it is because we don’t know for 100% , so to say he is definitely out for the season is not quite right.”

Meanwhile, a Gillingham reserve side including the likes of Andy Franpton, Matt Fish and Jordan Obita are set to play their Wycombe counterparts in a behind closed doors friendly at Priestfield on Tuesday afternoon.