Gills defender Simon King has admitted he considered quitting football after an injury plagued couple of seasons.

King missed the whole of the 2009/10 season with an ankle injury sustained in a pre-season friendly at Bromley and has only just forced his way back into the Gillingham side over two years later.

The central defender has been forced to watch on from the sidelines as the side were relegated from League One and struggled to get back to where they should be.

Having been involved in the side for the past couple of games against Port Vale and Rotherham, King explained how he almost considered giving up the game altogether:

“Of course it (retirement) crossed my mind many times but then you have nights like Tuesday and it feels worthwhile after all the hard work in the gym,” King told the Gills official website.

“It’s human nature to feel like you’ve had enough but I have had a very supportive family the whole time and some of the lads have been great since I have been going through this injury and kept me going.”

King will be out of contract in the summer, but is hoping to do enough in the remaining sixteen games of the season to persuade boss Andy Hessenthaler to offer him a new deal:

“It’s a good time to come into the team and hopefully I can prove my worth and show I’m still a good League Two defender and hopefully something might happen in the summer but there’s a long way to go.”

The 28 year old is expected to keep his place in the side when Torquay United visit Priestfield on Saturday in what surely must be described as a must win game.