Gillingham make their first appearance at Morecambe's new Globe Arena on Saturday and Manager Andy Hessenthaler is expecting an entertaining encounter, "We've had them watched three times now, and the boy Jevons is a handful, Roberts on the wing is a clever one too, so they've got some good players.
You've got to give them a lot of credit for what they achieved last year. It takes time to bed in new players, but I'm sure that Sammy McIlroy will get it right, and once they do I'm sure they'll be strong this year.
"It's a new Stadium too, so that's a first for the players, and I believe the pitch is nice as well from reports. They are on their home patch and looking for their first win, we're looking for our first win too, so it should hopefully be an entertaining game."
Despite suffering a frustrating defeat at home to Lincoln last weekend, Hessy believes his side can draw from that experience, "We've got to make sure that we make them nervous in the way Lincoln did to us last Saturday.
"We've got to be very positive. The last away trip at Hereford was a good performance without actually getting the right amount of points. It was a good point but I felt on the day that we deserved to get three.
"If we carry that performance into the game and get last weekend's out of our system then it will be a good game. I'm expecting a more open game because they play one-up-top, but in a similar style to the way that we play, with two boys out wide."
One major plus point for the Gills Gaffer should be the return of influential skipper Barry Fuller who Hessenthaler expects to start on Saturday, "Barry Fuller is looking very bright in training, he was quite close for last weekend but we gave him a few more days.
"He hasn't played a lot of football lately. He missed the end of last season with a broken nose, played the start of pre-season, then picked up that injury against Ebbsfleet, so he hasn't played a really competitive game for a while.
"He's excited and he can't wait to get out there. Barry is a leader, he's full of energy and he feels fitter than he's ever felt. He trains as he plays, and rightly so, but sometimes you have to pull the reins and protect him. If he's right, he'll play, it's as simple as that."
Hessenthaler is also likely to see his striking options boosted by the return of not one, but two, forwards as the Blues Boss revealed, "Cody McDonald is not 100% to start but he has trained this week and there's a good chance that he'll be involved at the weekend.
"Having watched him in training, I'm excited because the fans haven't seen him yet, but he looks a bright spark playing off the Big Man. That looks like it could be a very good partnership so hopefully he can be the key to us winning games.
"Mark McCammon has trained all week so he will come back into contention as well. It's been a tough time for him and he's had his injury problems. He needs to settle down now and have a run of games. His levels of fitness are good but he needs match fitness more than anything now."
With Jack Payne also set to return, Hessenthaler's injury woes seemed to be easing, but the Manager reluctantly confirmed that Alan Julian won't be the only player from last Saturday's side to miss the trip to Morecambe, "Unfortunately Curtis Weston is going to be out for two weeks.
"Players have to be honest with themselves, and if they are not 100% right, they can't get involved. I know Curtis was desperate to be involved at the weekend but he was a slight doubt with his thigh. He hasn't made it any worse by coming on but he's still getting problems in that area.
I had a chat with him yesterday, and he needs two weeks of treatment and strengthening work in the thigh area, so that he comes back for the next home game. Hopefully that will make the thigh a lot stronger and he won't be in and out of training and can start playing on a regular basis.
I've done it myself, were all desperate to play but there is a risk he could knock himself back further so we have to get him 100% right.
