GILLINGHAM manager Mark Stimson scored a victory over his players in a memorable pantomime strike at a Kent theatre.

Appearing in policeman’s costume, he dashed around the Marlowe in Canterbury before squirting water in the faces of shocked first-team squad members enjoying an afternoon matinee of Aladdin.

Mr Stimson said: “I don’t think they clocked me straight away because they were not expecting to see me run up to them in a policeman’s outfit, but the look on their faces was priceless.

“I was asked by the chairman to do it two weeks ago.

“I was a bit nervous at first but when I thought about the faces on some of the boys I knew I had to get out there.”

The manager joined 14 players, chairman Paul Scally and assistant manager Scott Barrett in photographs with the cast after the show before some players donned make-up and wigs.

Marlowe marketing assistant Ben Travis said: “The manager came in earlier than the players so they had no idea he would appear on stage.

“He came out at a point in the pantomime when the cast runs around the theatre and his players didn’t recognise him until he was a foot away.”

Last year Mr Scally left a woman needing medical treatment when he accidentally kicked a football into her face from the Marlowe stage at a charity show.