GILLINGHAM are banking on Barry Ashby's return to partner Chris Hope in defence to stem the alarming flow of goals threatening to undermine their season.

Saturday's 3-1 home defeat by Ipswich increased the tally of goals against to 19 in the last seven games. Significantly, Ashby has not played in the club's last five games, including the 6-0 rout at Wolves, because of a hamstring problem.

Now player-manager Andy Hessenthaler is confident his imminent return at Stoke on Saturday will help restore Gillingham's lean, mean defensive image.

Reflecting on Saturday's sixth home league defeat of the season and a goals-against column of 61, he said: "I'm making no excuses because I know we can do better.

"But we're missing Barry Ashby because he and Chris Hope have a good understanding. They've had that since I became manager.

"The other thing is that we're missing his experience. Hopefully we'll have him back for the Stoke game next week, if he has a good week, and we can kick on as a side.

"We've bounced back in the past and we can bounce back again on Saturday."

But he added: "We fell apart after Ipswich's second goal and the way we defended overall disappointed me. You can't get away with that against teams like Ipswich.

"Goals change games and their second gave them a lift and we seemed to drop our heads. Then they got a third and it was game over.

"It was the same old story as over the past few weeks, with up and down results."

David Perpetuini has hinted that his days with Gillingham could be numbered after two seasons at Priestfield. He cost £50,000 from Watford at the start of the 2001-02 campaign.

Perpetuini, who replaced the injured Mark Saunders after 27 minutes on Saturday, described his season as a disappointment after failing to break into the starting line-up.

He said: "I hope I have a future at the club but at the age of 23 I need to be playing regularly. If that's not going to be the case then I'll have to think about things. But you should ask the manager that question."

Hessenthaler replied: "David is in my plans but he knows my feelings and he knows he can do a lot better for us."

* Former Gillingham striker Jimmy Corbett, on loan with Darlington from Blackburn Rovers, scored his first goal for the Quakers in Saturday's 3-1 win over Bury.

* Anthony Pulis, son of Gillingham's former manager, has signed a two-year professional contract with Portsmouth.