ANDY HESSENTHALER has backed his team to bounce back from their opening day defeat by beating Leeds on Tuesday night.

The Gillingham player-manager also took a swipe at the critics after his team narrowly lost 2-1 at Ipswich on Saturday.

A defiant Hessenthaler said: "I'm sure this team can pick themselves up and get a result against Leeds. We deserved to get something from the game against Ipswich.

We created as many chances as they did at their ground and probably should have got a point if Sidibe had taken his chance at the end. Considering all the pundits have picked us to go down and Ipswich are one of the favourites to go up we more than matched them on the day."

He may stick with the attacking 4-3-3 formation for the visit of Leeds, which featured new signings Darren Byfield and Iwan Roberts. Neither scored on Saturday, nor did third striker Patrick Agyemang, but Hessenthaler believes they have goals in them.

He said: "We've got good forwards so the 4-3-3 formation suits us quite well, but we can change to 4-4-2. The way we are playing we will create chances and it's up to the forwards to put them away.

"That's usually the difference between sides and we have to take our chances or we won't win games, and we can't afford a season like last time."

Gillingham should have a relatively clean bill of health for tomorrow night's match at Priestfield. Ian Cox is still struggling with a back injury but should return in time for the Preston match.

Hessenthaler will be back in contention for the Leeds clash, having missed the Ipswich game through suspension. He still has two games of a touchline ban to serve, which could lead to some comedy if he names himself as a substitute.

Although he is entitled to play, his ban means he can't sit in the dug-out with the other substitutes. And he is also barred from warming up on the touchline and will have to do that behind the goal.

Hessenthaler said: "I can only warm up behind the goal but I don't know how I'm supposed to get there without going along the sideline. I shall have to sit down with a map sometime on Tuesday afternoon and plan my route. It all seems a bit strange really and it's never happened before in football, but I can't say too much about it."

Gills coach Wayne Jones told KM-fm how he is looking forward to the Leeds challenge...