Gillingham manager Andy Hessenthaler wants another win on Tuesday night to keep the club’s automatic promotion hopes alive.

Gillingham take on Southend United sitting five points off the top three in League 2 and Hessenthaler (pictured) is determined to clinch promotion without going through the play-offs.

"We need to try and firstly cement our place in the play-offs and still eye that top three," he said.

"It’s not unachievable and we’ll keep looking at that. The more games we win, we will cement our place in that top seven and, who knows, we could creep up into third.

"For now we’ll just look forward to trying to win the Southend game."

Southend were beaten by Morecambe at the weekend but had previously lost just one match in 10.

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"It’s a dangerous game for us on Tuesday," said Hessenthaler.

"It’s a game we will try to win. They will want to bounce back from a defeat.

"They’ve got some good players and it’s not going to be an easy game. It is one we’re looking forward to though because we are on a roll at the moment."

Curtis Weston (groin) and Andy Barcham (ankle) were both taken off before the end of Saturday’s game against Bradford as a precaution.

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