Gillingham are just two games away from a first visit to the new Wembley Stadium and Rochdale are the team they must now beat.

The Gills head back to Rochdale on Thursday night for the first leg of the League 2 play-off semi-final before the all-important second-leg match at Priestfield on Sunday night.

Curtis Weston’s first-half goal sealed a 1-0 for Gillingham at Rochdale on Saturday, in a ‘warm-up’ to the big games to come this week.

Gillingham manager Mark Stimson (pictured right)is looking forward to a return trip to Rochdale but after both teams rested key men at the weekend, he knows the
games to come are going to be a lot different.

He said: "We made changes and so did they and Thursday night will be completely different.

"It’s going to take a lot of hard work and maybe a bit of luck on the way but we’re quietly confident."

The Gills head into the game unbeaten in their last four League 2 matches.

"At this level, to go four games unbeaten you’ve done really well because players do suffer from inconsistency," said Stimson.

"The play-offs are a little bit of a lottery but you earn your luck and I think we’ve worked really hard this season.

"Rochdale know what it’s about over two legs and we are going to have to work hard now to get to Wembley."

The Gills will head up north on Wednesday and Stimson will be hoping some Champions League football gives his players some inspiration.

He said: "We’ll watch the Champions League semi-final between Chelsea and Barcelona and look at the winners and losers – and I’ll say to the players,
‘what feeling do you want?’"

The other League 2 semi-final sees Bury take on a Shrewsbury side who only made the play-offs with a last-day win at Dagenham and Stimson knows they are a team to watch.

"They’re a team I didn’t want in there because they are an extremely good side," he said.