Gillingham head coach Ady Pennock says the club's final-day showdown with former boss Justin Edinburgh's Northampton is an unbelievable twist of fate.

The Gills need a win on Sunday to guarantee League 1 football next season and Edinburgh - sacked by Paul Scally in January - stands in their way.

Pennock said: “I have been in football long enough to know that anything can happen but we have to worry about ourselves.

“It has got that twist, which is unbelievable. But we are just going to worry about ourselves. We have played well in our last two games but conceded too many goals.

“Performance-wise, we have been all right, we have looked like scoring but we’ve conceded six and that’s our problem."

Gillingham’s task is simple. Beat Northampton and they are safe. Anything else and things get complicated.

If the Gills somehow lose by six goals or more, then a draw would be enough to keep fellow strugglers Port Vale up. They are away to promotion-chasing Fleetwood and the odds remain stacked against them getting anything from the game.

Gillingham would already be safe had Walsall beaten Vale in the week but they named a weakened team and lost 1-0, with an 85th-minute goal keeping the relegation dogfight alive.

Three of Walsall’s starters were teenagers and two of the substitutes that came off the bench were scholars.

Pennock, who made the trip to the Bescot Stadium, said: “They were young but they were all registered and they could do whatever they want.”

Read the full story in Thursday's Medway Messenger.