Gillingham manager Andy Hessenthaler has conceded changes need to be made at the club if they are to achieve their goal this season.

Defeat at Port Vale on Saturday makes it five league defeats on the trot and six in all competitions leaving them 13th in League Two, six points outside the play-off places.

Following the defeat to Vale, Hessenthaler confirmed that both Matt Lawrence and Dennis Oli would be made available for loan and wouldn’t be offered new deals come the end of the season:

“I’ve put a few up for loan. Matt Lawrence along with Dennis Oli is up and I’ve said their contracts are nearly up and we’ve told them that we won’t be offering them a new deal.” he told the club’s official website.

“I’ve been honest and said that the window is open and if someone comes in then we will consider them going out.”

“The Chairman has been good in that situation and he just wants a fully committed team until the end of the season and we need to do that for the next seventeen games.”

Both players have struggled to live up to Hessenthaler’s expectations with Lawrence having played last at home to Southend United last Monday, whilst Oli has failed to hold down a regular place in the side in all his time at Priestfield.

With both players seemingly having played their last games for the club, Hessenthaler is now looking at various options with Jon Fortune and Rohan Ricketts set to be back training with the club again this week:

“Jon’s back in Monday, he’s a centre-half and we’ve said that we may be able to do something and that might mean I have to let a couple go on loan.”

“I’ve got to speak to Rohan’s agent but he’s a different type of player than we’ve got and he can get at people but he will be back in next week.”

Both players could be offered a short term deal until the end of the season with Ollie Lee having signed on loan for a month from West Ham United on Friday.

Fresh faces could be the answer Hessenthaler is looking for as the season has slowly started to slip away.

The Gills boss has little time to get things right on the training pitch with Rotherham United visiting Priestfield on Tuesday night.

Picture by Jack Gracie