Gillingham head into this weekend’s game against Leyton Orient without a victory
from their last eight matches in League 1.

But a morale-boosting win on Tuesday at Crawley in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy could be the turning point –and Gills boss Peter Taylor will be hoping that’s the case.

He said: “The result and the performance in the second half will prove (to the players) that they can do it and that’s the most important thing.

“Hopefully, they always thought that anyway but they needed a win to start getting that belief. We have got it now and we will rest up, prepare well and hopefully put on a show for our fans.

“It will be a big game. Orient will bring a few fans and hopefully Tuesday’s win will encourage a few of our supporters to come.

“We needed a win for the boys to believe they can win again. Hopefully, we could do that again on Saturday.

“It’s a massive game for us, we need to try and get out of the bottom four. We need a good performance at home and it would be lovely to get a result.”

Gillingham’s midweek success was their third in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy – leaving them two wins away from a Wembley final – but the league season is what matters most.

Taylor said: “The priority is the league, there is no doubt about that.

“We would like to do better in the league but we needed a win. The way it happened (coming from behind with 10 men) will give the lads a real boost.”