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Gillingham return to home soil on Monday against Colchester United

00:00, 27 December 2015

updated: 07:35, 27 December 2015

After two fantastic away wins, the Gills are now eager to put things right at home.

Gillingham lost 3-0 to Burton the last time they played at Priestfield and on Monday they entertain League 1’s basement side Colchester United.

Goalscoring midfielder Jake Hessenthaler has been a leading light in recent weeks and he can’t wait to get the chance to play on home soil again.

Jake Hessenthaler celebrates his goal at Swindon Picture: Barry Goodwin
Jake Hessenthaler celebrates his goal at Swindon Picture: Barry Goodwin

He said: “We want to bounce back against Colchester on Monday and get two quick victories in a row.

“We are going out to try and do exactly what we did at Swindon and against Millwall. Hopefully we can put on a bit of a show and get the three points.

“Every win is great but last week was really nice to go out and do it at The Den. It is a place you hear about and it was the first time for me to play there.

“Swindon was always going to be tricky and it’s nice to get three points for the fans. That is what we aim to do and we did it.”

Hessenthaler scored Gills’ second goal in the Boxing Day win at Swindon, his fourth goal of the season.

“We were fantastic,” he said.

“Full credit to the boys, we performed really well and we deserved the result. It was not nice to go behind but we bounced back.

Gillingham players thank the travelling fans at Swindon Picture: Barry Goodwin
Gillingham players thank the travelling fans at Swindon Picture: Barry Goodwin

“It was a great finish from Dacky and to do it straight away was a punch in the stomach for them. It was good to get back on level terms.

“I went away this summer and thought about what I could improve. I felt I needed to influence games more and score more goals.

“Swindon’s ground has been quite kind to me. I scored there last year at one end and scored at the other end this year. It is a great feeling to score but three points is the reason we are here.”

Hessenthaler earned high praise from manager Justin Edinburgh leading up to the game, hailing the youngster as one of the star performers of late.

“It is always nice to hear he gaffer give you some credit,” said the 21-year-old.

“He has done a lot for me personally. I think the way we have all started this season has been fantastic, the group chemistry has been great and I just want to carry it on, playing well and winning as many games as possible.”

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