Gillingham boss Mark Stimson was pleased with Thursday’s goalless draw at Rochdale but knows the job is far from done.

The Gills welcome Rochdale back to Priestfield on Sunday for the second leg of the League 2 semi-final tie.

Stimson (pictured below) said: “0-0 is a decent result but it’s nowhere near finished.

“I would have taken that before the match because we knew we would be tested.

“The most important thing was keeping the tie alive and we spoke to the players about that a couple of times.

“We’re playing for big prizes now. We’re not just turning up to make up the numbers. We’re playing for a day out at Wembley and trying to win promotion and both teams went for it hammer and tong.

“Fitness came into it in the end but I was confident as my boys looked quite fresh.”

The Gills were asked plenty of questions defensively and Stimson was delighted with how his team answered them.

He added: “We didn’t defend as a team in the first half of the season and we got a couple of hidings.

“We’ve changed things around and changed personnel and now the boys are working harder to defend and you have to do that, especially when you play top sides.

“We can also counter with the pace and we do look a threat and that’s a nice thing to have up your sleeve, especially when you have a couple of players on the bench who can’t wait to get on and who have ability to cause problems.”

Gillingham didn’t cause Rochdale’s defence too many problems and leading scorer Simeon Jackson was replaced by Mark McCammon.

Stimson said: “I don’t think Jackson was having the best of games. Jacko has had 25 minutes rest now and he’ll be really fresh for Sunday.

“The way we’ve set up of late, especially away from home and even at home, means we aren’t going to pin the teams in their final third because of the formation but it’s about results. I’m not used to 1-0s but I’ll take one on Sunday.”

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