Gillingham are facing an injury crisis ahead of their League Two fixture with Barnet at Priestfield on Tuesday night.

Andy Hessenthaler could be without at least a dozen players for the important game as The Gills look to get themselves back within the play-offs after three successive wins.

The 1-0 at Plymouth Argyle at the weekened seems to have come at some cost with Joe Martin missing Tuesday’s game through suspension after picking up his third red card of the season. He will therefore start a three game ban.

Martin will be joined on the sidelines by midfielders Curtis Weston and Jack Payne who will both miss the game with knee injuries that kept them out of the trip to the South West.

Hessenthaler could also be without defenders Simon King (dead leg) and Jack Evans (groin) for the visit of the Bees, whilst he faces a major headache as to which strikers could be available with Danny Kedwell (hamstring), Jo Kuffour (knee) and Gavin Tomlin (hamstring) all rated as doubtful.

Tomlin appears to be the biggest problem as he looked to have pulled his hamstring late on in the first half at Plymouth, whilst Kedwell sustained a similar injury in training last Thursday.

Jo Kuffour lasted 70 minutes at Plymouth before being withdrawn and could play some part on Tuesday night if deemed fit enough.

Long term absentees Andy Frampton, Matt Fish, Barry Fuller, Ross Flitney and Adam Birchall all remain sidelined, so Hessenthaler could be forced to use every player available to him.

That could see a recall to the squad for out of favour pair Matt Lawrence and Dennis Oli who are both available for loan, however there is every chance The Gills boss could keep faith with a more youthful policy.

One piece of good news is that defender Connor Essam has recovered from illness and could well partner Garry Richards in defence with Callum Davies showing on Saturday he is a more than useful member of the squad.

Loan signings Jordan Obita and Oliver Lee could both be handed starts on Tuesday night with midfielder Danny Spiller looking likely to feature at some point for the first time in six months.

Therefore, The Gills could line up something like this:

Gazzaniga, C Lee, Richards, Essam, Jackman, Whelpdale, Montrose, O Lee, Obita, Kuffour, Miller.

Subs: Hawkes, Davies, Lawrence, Spiller, Oli.

With the game being so important, the injury crisis couldn’t come at a worse time for The Gills. It’s getting so bad that it might pay to take your boots with you on Tuesday night – you might just get a game!