By Matthew Panting

Striker Cody McDonald believes the spirit within the camp could take Gillingham a long way this season.

Injuries have restricted his appearances so far but McDonald (pictured) made his Priestfield bow on Saturday and helped the Gills defeat League 2 front-runners Shrewsbury 2-0.

The on-loan Norwich forward kept a level head after the first win of the season but knows that it was just the tonic after last week’s defeat at Bury.

"As a team performance it was solid, but we’re not going to get carried away with this one result," he said. "I’ve felt we’ve played well in the past but not quite got the results.

"We were disappointed with last week. We didn’t perform as well as we could and to score four goals and still lose is obviously disappointing for any team and manager.

"But on Saturday we looked a threat every time we went forward, we created chances and looked defensively solid. We need to move on from this and start moving up that table."

McDonald was only passed fit for the game on Friday but he came through without any reaction to his ankle.

He said: "I got through and felt fine but I’ll have to manage my ankle in the next couple of days to make sure there is no reaction."

Now McDonald is hoping to repay the faith shown in him by Gills boss Andy Hessenthaler. although he doesn’t care who scores the goals - as long as Gillingham keep winning.

He said: "He’s put a lot of faith in me, I hope I can repay him and I’m confident I can do."

Can Cody McDonald make a big difference to the Gills attack? Have your say below.