Gillingham 2 - Coventry City 5

GILLINGHAM coach Wayne Jones has admitted Stoke City manager Tony Pulis is probably “enjoying” his former club’s current predicament as they attempt to avoid relegation.

Jones saw his side ripped apart by Coventry before staging a brave fightback despite the dismissal of player-manager Andy Hessenthaler.

The only consolation was Crystal Palace’s 1-0 win over Walsall which keeps the Saddlers in the bottom three and Gills’ fate still in their own hands.

Trying to lighten the heavy atmosphere around the club, Jones said with a wry smile that he would be ringing Pulis to ask him to do “a heck of a favour” next Sunday.

But he then admitted that he has not spoken to the former Gills manager for a couple of years.

“I was joking, I think he’s enjoying it. They have a couple of former players in Carl Asaba and Ade Akinbiyi and I’m sure they are waiting for us to come up and have a right go,” he said.

On Stoke’s official website, Pulis says: “It’s a huge game for Gillingham. They can expect no favours off us, though.

"Their fans know that because I worked there for four years and they know what I’m about. We will play our strongest team and give it a real go.”

Jones added: “It’s in our hands. If we draw then Walsall must win by three clear goals to stay up.

“So we have got to go and win. It’ll be a terrific game and a terrific atmosphere. I’m sure if we can take 2,500 to Wimbledon, then we can take 3,000-4,000 to Stoke.

“We don’t want to go down and it all comes down to 90 minutes now. I’m confident it will be a win but if it is a draw we’ll keep our fingers crossed for Rotherham at Walsall.”

Jones pulled no punches when asked to describe the defending in the 5-2 defeat against Coventry.

He said: “The first half we were shocking. That was our worst performance of the season and we knew if we carried on playing like that in the second half it was going to be a massacre.

“We got it back to 3-2 and it looked like we’d score again but for too long we were up tight and our passing was poor.

“We've suffered with nerves for quite a while now. It happens when you’re in the bottom."

A big decision was the sending-off of player-manager Andy Hessenthaler and Jones said: “Several Coventry players also said they were astonished by it.

"If you get booked for dissent you deserve it but the challenge for the second yellow was not a bad one, a couple of their players said it was not even a free kick.

“It was a big game to go down to 10 men in, we needed everyone on and could have done with 12 or 13 players.”