“Stick with us” was the message from Gillingham goalkeeper Glenn Morris.

A midweek setback at Wimbledon leaves the Gills needing a win this Saturday against Grimsby to avoid slipping further adrift in the race for a League 2 play-off spot.

With the automatic places now looking like a distant target, all eyes are on trying to finish inside the top seven.

With eight games left, Gills’ hopes are on a knife edge.

“Stick with us,” said the 40-year-old keeper, who has recently returned to the starting XI.

“There is a long way to go, a lot of ups and downs, and we know we have to pick up a few results soon. We are hoping to do that on Saturday.

“I am sure the fans will come in great numbers and we always fancy ourselves at home. If we can go and get three points at Priestfield then we’ll see where we go from there.

“We have a great bunch here, a lot of quality, we are a match for anyone on our day and with eight games to go, we just have to be on our day in all of those games and then we won’t be far away.”

Grimsby are fourth from bottom but beat top-five side MK Dons 1-0 on Tuesday night - another result of many in the division where a leading team have succumbed to a struggler.

It’s why Morris and his team-mates won’t be taking the visitors lightly this weekend.

He said: “There are no easy games. I have been in this league a long time, anyone can beat anyone on their night but we have to make sure we perform every week.

“There are eight games to go, it is a big push, we have to do it now. We don’t want to look back at the end of the season and go ‘what if’ and all that. We have to put the effort in now and see where it takes us.”

Reflecting on Tuesday night’s loss against Wimbledon, he said: “It was a tough night. To go a goal down and down to 10 men it’s always going to be a long and hard night, but the boys dug in well second half and we’ve had a go.”