Gills boss Andy Hessenthaler believes automatic promotion is still a realistic possiblity after beating Aldershot on Monday.

Danny Jackman’s strike shortly after the break was enough to seal all three points despite having Joe Martin sent off for a second bookable offence on the hour mark.

The 1-0 scoreline sees The Gills begin 2012 with a win and cement their place in the play-offs and Hessenthaler believes his side have got what it takes after this display:

“I thought that was one of our best results of the season in a lot of ways,” said Hessenthaler to the official website. “We really needed to bounce back and had to play half an hour with 10 men.

“It just goes to show what characters we have in the dressing room. It’s the siege mentality. Work-rate, work ethic and commitment. It was all there to see but I wasn’t happy with the sending off. To book Joe Martin after 50 seconds was ridiculous; you have to give the lad a chance.

“I think we need five or six points more than we have at this point but I think we can pull it back in the second-half of the season but we need to improve. We’ve at least put ourselves into contention with this win.”

Hessenthaler also revealed that the club are looking to secure the signing from Bristol Rovers this week along with a possible couple of other players.

One name that has been linked with a move to Priestfield is Dagenham & Redbridge striker Gavin Tomlin who is out of contract and could move to The Gills on a free transfer.

The Gills boss went on to explain how he felt the win puts his side in a good frame of mind for Saturday’s cup game: “This sets us up nicely for the Stoke game now.”

“We’ve got a good few days on the training ground to work on things because taking on a Premier League team will be really tough.”

“Nobody will fancy us at all but we can give anyone problems here if we’re on our game.”

Picture supplied by Jack Gracie