Alan Julian will play at Bromley on Tuesday as he tries to wrestle the number one shirt off Simon Royce Picture: Matthew Walker

by Luke Cawdell

Simon Royce claimed the goalkeeper’s jersey for the pre-season match in Calais on Saturday but manager Mark Stimson admits he still can’t decide who will be next season’s first choice.

Stimson will give Alan Julian the shirt on Tuesday night at Bromley as he continues to assess who he wants between the sticks on August 8 against Swindon.

Stimson said: "They’ve given me a proper headache, those two, of seeing who is going to be number one and they’ve both been told
that.

"Simon has done his best and kept a clean sheet (against Calais). It will be up to Alan to play on Tuesday night and I’ll decide on the Crystal Palace game who gets that shirt."

Julian was Stimson’s number one at Stevenage in the Conference and he joined the Gills last summer but was limited to just six appearances as he was understudy to Royce.

Royce, 37, joined the Gills at the back end of the 2006/07 season and has been the club’s regular keeper ever since. He currently has 88 Gillingham appearances to his name.