Gillingham head coach Stephen Clemence looks ahead to their League 2 match at Forest Green Rovers on Friday night

Gillingham head coach Stephen Clemence hopes the extra rest will give his side an edge at Forest Green Rovers tonight.

While the Gills were busy preparing for a trip to the New Lawn this week, Forest Green were in FA Cup action at League 1 Blackpool on Tuesday night, losing 3-0.

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It was a final game in charge for their manager David Horseman - replaced the following day by player-coach Troy Deeney who has the task of dragging them clear of the bottom two in League 2.

“It should help us,” said Clemence. “They have obviously had to travel up to Blackpool and then come back, it’s a long journey for them and that is definitely something that should work in our favour.

“But we have to go and play well and make it a fast game, get after them so they don’t get too much time on the ball and whoever we play we are going to have to play better than we did in our last game.”

The Gills were beaten 2-0 at home by Bradford City on Saturday.

Clemence said: “On reflection, when I watched it back, a 0-0 would have probably been a fair result. We let in two disappointing goals and I still didn’t think we posed enough of an attacking threat. I would like to think going into the next game that is what we are trying to do.”

Midfielder Jonny Williams said after the Bradford match that they had been dragged into a game of direct football last time out.

The head coach agreed, and it’s something he was frustrated with, as the Gills ended up in a battle against a physical Bradford side. The visitors committed 19 fouls against Gillingham – more than any other team in the league this season.

Clemence said: “The players came through okay (injury wise) and there was a huge physicality against Bradford, a