Gills fans celebrate after Chris Palmer scores

Gills fans could have been forgiven before kick-off for being slightly apprehensive about the visit of high-flying Shrewsbury to Priestfield on Saturday. But afterwards they were full of praise for the Gills side as they picked up their first win of the season.

PAUL BLAKELEY

(Maidstone)

"Finally a sustained performance that we all knew we were capable of. From back to front we looked solid and assured, with Payne, Lawrence and Akinfenwa the picks of a good bunch.

"I was also really impressed with Cody McDonald, in time I think he’ll be a useful player for us this season. It was good to see people like Bentley and Nutter also bounce back from recent poor performances.

"There’s also clear room for improvement too, which is a good sign when we’ve played pretty well in that game. Special mention must go to Jack Payne who was absolutely superb in everything he did."

DAVID GARTH

(Gillingham)

"Hopefully that is lift-off for us now. I think a lot of people were getting concerned that we were playing okay but without the results coming, so hopefully that will set us off.

"I was delighted. I think it was a thoroughly entertaining game and a good all-round team performance.

"Everyone played their part, there were no weak links, but Matt Lawrence was awesome at the back - he’s got to play centre-half all the time, he brought the best out of Sinclair too. The clean sheet was a major result after last week.

"McDonald looks sharp and I think he’s forging a good partnership with Bayo, who was a rock, other than the disastrous penalty.

"Hessenthaler has seen something in Palmer which Stimson couldn’t and is playing him as an attacking midfielder and it’s clearly working."

ADAM BEDFORD

(Bedford)

"I think it was much better than the Lincoln game. I thought they played pretty well. Payne was good, his ball retention in midfield was important, and Akinfenwa’s hold-up play was pretty good. He caused trouble in their box.

"Hopefully this is a win they can build on, our home form was good last year and if we can get that going again hopefully we can climb the table."

ALAN JONES

(Strood)

"It was important that we don’t get too far behind all these other teams so hopefully getting our first win of the season will set us on a bit of a run. Hopefully, that is the start of things to come.

"I thought our midfield was a lot tighter yesterday and hopefully we can build on that, with a few players still to come back from injury. I thought Spiller and Payne held the midfield well and made a big difference playing together.

"Hopefully we can keep those two together in there.

"I have not seen anyone in this division who are that great. I think we should probably be the best team in the division. We just need to beat the bad teams like we do the good."

SHREWSBURY FAN

Ant Thomas

"It’s obviously disappointing to lose but we have such a poor record at Priestfield it was hardly a surprise. I think we’ve won there once in 20 years or more, and that year we won the league.

"I think if you said to anyone that we had to lose one of our first seven games then most people would have picked the Gillingham game – away against a strong team and with fewer fans there to see it.

"Hopefully the defeat will give us a kick up the backside and we can get back to winning ways in the next game."