Gillingham captain Liam Gordon is one of four injured players closing in on a return to action.

The Scottish defender was a key signing for Gareth Ainsworth in the summer but picked up a serious injury on his league debut. Gordon limped out of the League 2 opener against Walsall and spent time in a leg brace before stepping up the rehab.

Ainsworth hopes to have the former Motherwell defender back this side of Christmas.

He said: “It’s fair to say that if we could get him back before Christmas, it's both realistic and it'd be a huge bonus, especially after what we thought in the initial period.

“He’s out on the grass He’s running and, knowing Liam, if he knows that there’s no risk of a recurrence, he’ll be out there.

“He’s an absolute warrior and we miss him.

“I don’t want to put him under pressure [with a time frame] but it’s great to see him on the grass. I think he’s as pleased to be on the grass as anyone because that medical room can get pretty mundane at times.

“I’ve got Liam Gordon, Will Goodwin, Zane Albarus and Sam Tabares really close now.

“That’s great options to have and we need some of these boys back.

“If I got my top team on the pitch, I think we’d be unstoppable. But football doesn’t work like that.”

Despite the injuries, the Gills have managed to keep in touch with the leading sides.

A home draw against Port Vale on Tuesday left them seventh in the table, occupying the final play-off position.

“As the season goes, we’ll get a lot stronger,” said Ainsworth.

“What I'm excited at is how strong we're going to be in the second half of the season, without a doubt. Not just second half, the last two-thirds probably will be super strong.

“We've got to get through, probably three or four more games with what we've got but then I think we'll get some serious players back.

“Four of the 15 out are young lads but of the other 11, I think eight or nine of those are new signings. They were brought in specifically to be part of my squad and to lose them was gut-wrenching. But it's football, it happens. I'm not going to get the violins out, nobody cares. I've got to get on with it.”

Bradley Dack is expected to be back available this weekend after a slight calf strain and Robbie McKenzie will return after having time off with his newborn bady

Midfielder Albarus looked impressive in the first few games before picking up an injury. He was sent off at York on his return and hasn’t played since. The manager said on Wednesday that Goodwin “will definitely be back very soon.”

Sam Tabares hasn’t featured since a pre-season muscle injury at Ebbsfleet, while Zech Obiero, Eli King and Kadeem Harris have all been absent with longer-term issues.

Ainsworth said: “Eli and Kadeem won't be back before Christmas, I can safely say that. Zech is with [parent club] Leyton Orient and doing his rehab.

“Everyone else is looking pretty good. We’ve got knocks and whacks and a couple of breaks in there, which don't help. But you can play with splints and you can play through things.

“Eli is seeing a surgeon this week, so we'll have a look at where that will go, but knees are complicated things. We'll have to tread carefully on that one.

“I'll probably speak to the medical team and Eli and see what we can release about that coming up.”