Gillingham boss Mark Stimson admitted he was "proud" of his players after watching them end a five-match winless streak against Colchester at Priestfield on Tuesday.

He was full of praise for youngsters Luke Rooney and Jacob Erskine and said: "It was important to re-dress our record against them and the boys did. I was proud of them.

"The team I picked probably surprised a few people but it was an opportunity to get players out there against decent opposition, to see if they were ready for the challenge. The ones we stuck in did well.

"Luke and Jacob were bright at the start but they were getting a bit tired after an hour so we took them off.

"I would have liked Luke to get more of the ball, because when he got it early on, he twisted the full back inside out and nearly scored.

"Jacob showed us what he is – a strong boy with a decent touch. He was up against a good centre-half Magnus Okuonghae, who played at Dagenham with him."

Stimson revealed that skipper Barry Fuller had no doubts he would be fit to play, despite the manager saying he wouldn’t after watching limp off at Walsall.

He said: "Barry wanted to train and play and probably helped us because John Nutter went down with a bug. I also wanted to give Kevin Maher a run and Danny Jackman to get an hour.

"It was fantastic for Mark McCammon to score the winning penalty.

"He has done everything but score in the last three games and he hit it well."