Gillingham boss Steve Evans was down after a midweek defeat and has more injury woes but insists he will come back fighting.

He’s having it tough at present, with more senior players injured than fit, and is preparing a patched-up squad to visit bottom side Crewe Alexandra this Saturday.

Asked if he’s able to stay positive amid the mounting problems, Evans said: “The motivator has to motivate the motivator. Nobody at this football club motivates me, no one, absolute no one. Paul Raynor (the assistant manager) some days, he is the only one.

“My family motivate me to fight every day, that is what has always happened in my house, they will help me to pick myself up and regroup and go again.

“The one thing you do if you are from a big council estate in Glasgow and you grew up some days not knowing if you are getting your dinner, you fight, eh? When I am going down the hill I am still going to be fighting to go up the hill.

“We will regroup and go with what we have got. Crewe will be difficult under David Artell (their manager), they will be organised and efficient, they will be fresh and ready after a free night (on Tuesday).”

Gillingham picked up more injures in their midweek defeat at Cheltenham in the FA Cup first round replay.

“We went there ravaged,” he admitted.

“We don’t have a strong team do we? But we will go there and be organised, efficient and try and win the match.

“David Artell will have seen a couple more go off and he will be rubbing his hands, he is playing Gillingham’s third team, despite what is being said elsewhere, that is where we are.

“I think it is pretty soul-destroying what we are going through but we have to get on with it, there are no excuses. We know what is available and what is not, we are good at what we do but we can’t be playing kids at 16 and 17 away at Cheltenham in the FA Cup.”

It’s unlikely many players will be back this weekend. Evans said on Thursday morning “maybe one” could make it.

“We are still without nine or 10 senior players. If it wasn’t so serious you would laugh but it is serious and you feel like crying.

“The reality of league 1 players compared to youngsters like Joe Gbode (the youth striker who made his debut on Tuesday) is huge. He will be a good player, we were so proud of giving him a debut, but we are trying to build a bridge on quicksand at the minute until we get senior players back.

“You could have me in there or Jurgen Klopp but eight or nine of the (injured players) would start most games, that tells you what we are having to play with but as I said before Cheltenham, we can still compete and try and win a match.

“In all likelihood I will know on Saturday morning who I can pick.”

Evans contacted a top sports scientist from a Premier League club in the week to try and get some advise and, after saying over 75% were impact injuries, the response was “The first thing I would tell to my manager is that those guys are giving you everything because they are impact injuries. Our team are giving us everything.”

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