Gillingham face promotion-chasing teams in their next four matches.

A challenging run of games starts on Tuesday when the Gills head to play-off hopefuls MK Dons.

Matches against top-six sides Rotherham, Peterborough and Leyton Orient await but boss Peter Taylor will be hoping the teams bring out the best in his side.

Taylor said: “Sometimes it works out better because sometimes those games are more open. They are going for three points themselves to secure a play-off situation.

“We have some big games coming up and we knew that. We have eight matches to go, five away and three at home but we know it’s all about our own performance.

“The players have got good spirit, good character and good attitude. They didn’t show it on Saturday but I am sure they will show it on Monday morning."

“If we perform a lot better than we did on Saturday, then we deserve to get some points but at the moment we are a bit down.”

The Gills, who lost 3-1 to Crewe at the weekend, are likely to need two more wins to guarantee their League 1 survival.

“I am not as confident now as I was before the game, where we were eight points (off the bottom four) but we have to keep going,” said Taylor, after the gap between his team and the relegation places closed to seven points.

“The players have got good spirit, good character and good attitude. They didn’t show it on Saturday but I am sure they will show it on Monday morning.

“We have been punished for a poor performance. We have to pick ourselves up and do a lot better on Tuesday night.”

Tuesday's opponents MK Dons scored three goals in the final nine minutes on Saturday, against Stevenage, to overcome a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2. View their highlights below and watch action from Priestfield on Saturday by clicking here.