Gillingham's players thank the travelling fans for their support in the play-off tie at Rochdale Picture Barry Goodwin

by Luke Cawdell

Gillingham chairman Paul Scally wants the club to earn promotion to League 1 as a thank you to the fans.

Mr Scally was at Rochdale on Thursday night to see the Gills hold the hosts to a goalless draw in the Leaue 2 play-off semi-final first leg.

The Gills were backed by a vociferous following, who encountered major traffic delays on the roads around Rochdale before kick-off, after a bull had got loose on the motorway.

Mr Scally said: "The fans have been fantastic all season and they’ve been fantastic since I’ve been at the club. “If anything, we want to do well this season for their benefit.

“There were 700 or 800 at Rochdale and they out-sung the home fans and they are a great example of how strong this club can be, and is, and will be if we get on and do better in the leagues above.

“It will be lovely to get a result on Sunday night but there is a lot of football to be played yet and we all know that we just take one game at a time.”

Mr Scally (pictured right) was pleased to see his team put on a good performance, especially with the game being live on Sky Sports.

He said: “It was always going to be a difficult place to go because they are no mugs.

“It’s a difficult ground to play at and the pitch isn’t the best but I thought we showed the country and those who watched on Sky and those who were back home in Kent that we played some great football and we can mix it if we have to and with a bit of luck we might have had one or two goals.”

With the tie at the halfway stage and in the balance, Mr Scally wasn’t keen on mentioning the Wembley word.

He said: “We have a big game on Sunday and we need to go and win that. If we win that then we can talk about those sorts of things but we’re only half way through this contest and there are 11 other players who want to go to Wembley as well as our 11.

“It will be a tough game on Sunday night but the crowd can play their part. If they lift the roof off the stadium, which I know they are capable of doing and if the players can perform like they did at Rochdale, then anything can happen."

Hear more from Paul Scally below as he reflects on the first leg and looks ahead to Sunday: