by Luke Cawdell

Gillingham host Cheltenham in a top-of-the-table clash on Tuesday in what manager Martin Allen has labelled his team’s biggest test yet.

Not since the pre-season visit of Charlton have the Gills faced such quality, according to Allen, pictured, whose side head into the game buoyed by a four-goal FA Cup win over League 1 Scunthorpe.

The Gills are top of League 2 with a five-point cushion over second-placed Port Vale. In third are Cheltenham - one of Allen’s former teams -who are two points further adrift.

Allen said: "The team we are playing against are a good team and they were very unlucky not to get promoted last year in the play-offs.

"Without a shadow of a doubt they will be the best team we have played so far, apart from Charlton in pre-season."

The Gills have hit four goals in each of their last three games and Allen believes a united spirit at Priestfield is going a long way to helping with those results.

He said: "It is not just the team, they are just the people who go out onto the pitch. It’s a united effort between all of us. We all do it. Everyone is finding that little bit extra and that’s what makes it that little bit special."