GARY MULLIGAN saluted strike partner Delroy Facey following his double against Walsall on Saturday.

The Irishman got his first goals of the season helping Gillingham to their first win of the campaign and was keen to thank Facey for his contribution.

“It’s great playing with Delroy,” he said. “He works just as hard as me, he’s great in the air, he’s a good striker and I’d like to thank him for laying the two goals on for me.”

Mulligan had missed the two previous games because of an ankle injury and he was delighted to come back and make such an impact.

He said: “It feels great. The main thing was to get the win, but to get the two goals was an extra bonus and I’m delighted. Hopefully I can continue that next week.

“Before the game I felt grand because I hadn’t done anything in two weeks but in the last 25 minutes I felt a bit tired and my hamstrings were tightening up. I probably went out a bit too sharpish.”

Only the crossbar denied Mulligan of his first professional hat-trick and he is confident that the goals will keep on flowing.

He said: “Once you get the goals your whole game seems to get better because your confidence is there. I felt sharp in pre-season and I was delighted to start the game and get the goals.

“I’ve set myself a target of 15 to 20 this season and I’ll definitely beat last season’s.”

Mulligan admitted Saturday’s performance was the best so far this season and he’s now looking ahead to the weekend’s trip to Southend.

“Apart from the one game against Colchester in pre-season it was the best we’ve played,” he said. “We watched the video of that game the other day and we were great but the best we’ve played all season was against Walsall.

“I felt we would have gone out in the second half and created a few more chances, but the game seemed to die down a little bit. We got the win in the end and that was the main thing.

“We’re away to Southend next and we’re definitely looking forward to that. The spirit should be high and hopefully we’ll go there and put in a good performance.”