by Luke Cawdell

Gillingham are celebrating making history after achieving promotion for the first time in their history on home soil.

The team sealed their place in League 1 with three games to spare following the 1-0 win over Torquay at Priestfield.

Martin Allen (pictured), said: “It is an amazing feeling.

“There was an announcement that came over the whole ground with just a few moments to go (saying a win would secure promotion) and that was a spooky, eerie couple of minutes. The crowd and all of us went pretty quiet and we couldn’t wait for that game to end.”

Gillingham supporter Danny Kedwell scored the crucial goal – his 15 of the season.

And Allen said: “He scored the first goal of our season, against Bradford, which was quite a brilliant goal, where he chipped the goalkeeper from the edge of the 18-yard box and we have rotated the strikers, with Burton, Ben Strevans and Adam Birchall, as well as Myles Weston, who was injured.

“It is fantastic for Danny but it is fantastic for the whole squad. They are very close and so are the staff. We have a good group which Mr Scally has helped us to put together.”

The 1-0 win was typical of the Gills season where they were able to defend a lead.

Allen said: “We’ve got proper men and we also have some young lads playing in our team who are full of energy and enthusiasm and we made changes again from last week, when we played Rotherham.

“I am not sure anybody would have been able to guess the team that we played, but I slept well and have total faith in everyone we have in our squad. They just keep going and keep doing the job that we need for our team."

See the sports section for more on Gills' win