Colchester United go in search of a vital victory at Gillingham tomorrow.

And the U's will be hoping to make it third time lucky, after tasting defeat twice at the hands of the Gills this season.

Tony Humes' side were beaten 2-1 at home by Gillingham, on Boxing Day.

And they were also knocked out of this season's Johnstone's Paint Trophy by the Kent side on penalties, after the tie had finished 3-3 in normal time.

Humes said: “Gillingham are an energetic side and they do try to force the game.

“The try to play it going forward and to press teams.

“Sometimes they get caught out so they’ve had some good results but also some poor results.

“Hopefully Tuesday’s defeat by Chesterfield will have put them back on their heels and it’ssomething we can take advantage of.

“But they are a decent team.

“We’ve played them twice this year and I think we did well in both, but we didn’t beat them.

“It’s more about what we do and we have to get that right.

“We have to go out and get the defensive side of the game right and be a strong team that is difficult to beat.

“We have players who can turn games for us, but it’s making sure we don’t get out of games and end up chasing them."

For a three-page preview of the U's game with Gillingham, including interviews with Tony Humes, Jacob Murphy and Rhys Healey, see Friday's Daily Gazette.