Stanley defender Phil Edwards says their clash at Gillingham tomorrow is as important as a cup final.

The Reds are unbeaten in five games – with four wins in that – which has propelled them up to 11th in the League Two table.

The Gills occupy the seventh and final play-off spot and are seven points ahead of the Reds but have played four games more.

Edwards, who was the two-goal hero in the 3-0 win over Stockport midweek, said: "Gillingham are the ones we are trying to aim for so it’s going to be a hell of a game.

"It will be like a final. We’ve got four games in hand on them and only seven points behind so if we can get a victory then it makes that points gap smaller."

When the Reds had 19 games left to play, boss John Coleman reckoned his side needed 10 wins to be among the play-off contenders.

Five games later and it’s now at least six wins targetted out of 14 games, with two home games in their next three, including Burton visiting on Tuesday.

"We are still looking to get as many as we can, six wins will take us close to where we want to be, we have just got to keep batting away," said the Reds chief.

"We lost a bit of ground on Saturday with only drawing against Lincoln as five out of the top seven won so it was nice to make some ground up on Tuesday and we are in a good position. It means tomorrow is a cup final and we have got to treat it as that. It will probably be 0-0 after the 7-4 at our place!"

Gills defender Matt Lawrence is warning Stanley that they face a different side to the one that beat them in the 11-goal thriller in October.

"That was in the bad old days when we took something like 15 points from 15 games. We were poor and we massively underachieved and let ourselves, the manager and the club down," he told the club’s website. "I am not even thinking about the fact we conceded seven against them, all I want to do is cement our position in the play-offs."

Charlie Barnett (ankle) is a doubt for the game after missing the Stockport win.