Martin Allen was delighted to see his side make a winning start to their League 2 season but knows there is room for improvement.

Saturday’s 3-1 home win against Bradford City followed a midweek win over Championship side Bristol City in the Capital One Cup to make for an encouraging start to the season for the Gills.

Allen (pictured) said: “It was a good start to the league season.

"We had won away on Tuesday night in the cup at Bristol and then to came to Priestfield on the back of that and won again. Before that we had beaten Charlton (in pre-season) as well so we’ve beaten two Championship clubs and a (Bradford) team who I think will be right up there at the end of the season without a shadow of a doubt.

“I think it’s credit to our players. We didn’t play as well as we can do and how we have been playing but we still won 3-1 and all in all, good day, but room for improvement would be the school report I reckon.”

The temperature at Priestfield was topping 30 degrees but it wasn’t an issue for Allen.

“It was the same for both teams but it’s mainly a mental test,” he said.

“You could use it as an excuse before hand but we never even mentioned it or thought about it. It just wasn’t brought up. We planned to go for it from the first minute and for the first 20 we were absolutely outstanding.

“The football was brilliant, we had two cleared off the line and I suppose we weren’t going to be able to keep it up but they had a bit of the game as well and we came back with Myles Weston showing what he is capable of (scoring to make it 3-1) and that’s why we brought him to the club.”

Allen’s pre-season aim was to make the fans happy and it’s so far so good, with the supporters chanting his name at the end. It prompted the Gills manager into an impromptu round of applause for the fans.

“I thought it was the right thing to do with a few minutes left,” he said. “I didn’t plan it. We were winning comfortably and I thought I would just step out onto that technical area and thank all those people who were singing my name from behind the goal and then all these people in the main stand. It was a wonderful moment for me personally.

“They (the fans) can see we have worked hard, the team is looking fit and every supporter wants to see their team trying to give them value for money and I know I have a responsibility to make those supporters happy by the performance of the players on the pitch. It was a good day and I hope they all went home in the sunshine and were happy people.”

Picture: Barry Goodwin

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