Hess makes promotion promise

Manager Andy Hessenthaler understands the frustration of Gillingham fans, but has promised to "make it happen" for the club next season.

Ninth-placed Gills have three matches to close the four-point gap between themselves and Oxford in seventh, while in-form Crewe are also competing strongly for the final play-off place. And should the Kent outfit miss out on another top-seven finish yet again then Hessenthaler plans to rebuild his squad over the summer in preparation for another assault next term. "They (supporters) are going to be frustrated because they expected promotion, so did the chairman and so did the board and the players," Hessenthaler told the club's official website. "If we miss out on the play-off positions over the next three games then we need to look at rebuilding again in the summer. "Hopefully next year we can get things right, hopefully have bit of luck pre-season in not getting injuries. Maybe we need to choose our games carefully in pre-season in respect of where we are playing and what type of pitches because we cannot lose players in pre-season. "The chairman has backed me for the last two years; we will kick on and make it happen next year."