MARK STIMSON has admitted to enduring a frustrating time as he attempts to bolster the Gillingham squad.

Stimson came close to making a new addition before Tuesday’s 0-0 draw against Oldham and will continue to hunt new blood as he builds for the future.

He said: "It’s all very difficult and frustrating as we’re just waiting for the phone to go. When it goes, you're always thinking ‘is this the call that I am waiting for’.

“The chairman and I thought a player was coming here on Tuesday for a medical so we could sign him in time for the Oldham game.

“The bid was accepted but unfortunately the player got dragged away by his club and he wasn't able to come here.

“I’m hoping that changes later this week and the player does come to join us.”

Long term target Stuart Fleetwood is expected to join Crewe this week but Stimson hasn’t given up yet.

“I'll never give up on a player until I have seen that he has signed for another team,” he said.

Also on his wishlist is Grays defender Jon Ashton but that is dependent of whether the Blue Square Premier club are still in contention for promotion.

He said: “They have a couple of games in the next week or so. If they lost those it could be a different situation but if they win them then I'm not stupid to ring up and say 'can I have Jon Ashton?'

“We have are our targets but we'll only pay so much for them. If we don't get them then we'll play with what we’ve got and it might happen in the summer.

“If we could get some new faces in it will improve us and we'll go up to the last minute of the window to try to do that.”