diff --git a/lib/Gateway.ts b/lib/Gateway.ts
index 33c2a59..64b7ce6 100644
--- a/lib/Gateway.ts
+++ b/lib/Gateway.ts
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ class GatewayClass {
     return result;
   }
 
-  public authenticate (req: IncomingMessage): boolean {
+  public try_access (req: IncomingMessage): boolean {
     logger ('authenticating incoming request');
     const cookies = this.get_cookie_auth (req);
     let auth = this.get_header_auth (req);
@@ -176,22 +176,36 @@ class GatewayClass {
     return false;
   }
 
+  public async authenticate (
+    req: IncomingMessage,
+    res: ServerResponse
+  ): Promise<unknown> {
+    logger ('trying to authenticate http request');
+    if (this.try_access (req)) {
+      logger ('authenticated via access_token');
+      return true;
+    }
+    if (await this.try_refresh (req, res)) {
+      logger ('authenticated via refresh_token');
+      return true;
+    }
+
+    logger ('could not verify session');
+    return false;
+  }
+
   public async process_request (
     req: IncomingMessage,
     res: ServerResponse,
     next: AnyFunc
   ): Promise<unknown> {
     logger ('processing incoming http request');
-    if (this.authenticate (req)) {
+    if (await this.authenticate (req, res)) {
       logger ('authentification successful, calling next handler');
       return next ();
     }
-    if (await this.try_refresh (req, res)) {
-      logger ('refresh successful, calling next handler');
-      return next ();
-    }
 
-    logger ('could not verify session, redirecting to auth gateway');
+    logger ('failed to authenticate, redirecting client');
     return this.redirect (res);
   }
 }
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 4742df5..40b77de 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@sapphirecode/auth-server-helper",
-  "version": "2.2.3",
+  "version": "2.2.4",
   "main": "dist/index.js",
   "author": {
     "name": "Timo Hocker",