Gillingham striker Lewis Walker scores on his loan debut for Woking against AFC Fylde in the National League
It didn’t take Gillingham striker Lewis Walker long to get on the scoresheet at his new loan club.
Walker joined the National League side on Friday, agreeing a loan deal until January, and he scored just seven minutes after being introduced as a half-time substitute on Saturday.
Woking were already a goal up against opponents AFC Fylde before Walker doubled the advantage. He scored the only goal of the game last season as the Gills beat the same side in the FA Cup.
Walker headed in from close range to open his account for Woking.
It was the perfect start for a striker who is still looking to find his match fitness after picking up a pre-season injury at Dover.
Gills manager Neil Harris believes playing competitive league football is the right move for the striker – even though he could have had some action with the Gills.
Harris said: “I spoke to him on Friday night and I am really pleased for him, it’s a really sensible thing for us to do as a football club. He understands and appreciates that, us letting him go.
“With Oli Hawkins missing, it would have been really easy to keep Lewis in the building, two or three weeks away from fitness, to stick around.
“We have a friendly on Tuesday at Folkestone and a game in the EFL Trophy competition (coming up), then we have Maidstone in the Kent Cup, there is a games-window there for him to get fit but we decided what is best for Lewis Walker and for us to help him get fit is to go out and play football.
“It’s a brave decision as well, as he isn’t 100% fit to go out, knowing fully well it might take a couple of weeks for him to get up to speed at Woking, but it is a good loan move for him and a good decision for us to let him go.
“Since he has come in to the building he has never had a run of games, 99% of the time due to injury, hopefully he goes and gets some game-time.”
