GILLINGHAM chairman Paul Scally has paid tribute to Stan Ternent for his work in guiding the club out of the bottom three for the first time in five months.

Ternent took over the reins at the beginning of December, two weeks after Andy Hessenthaler stepped down. Since then the Gills form has improved steadily and Priestfield has become something of a fortress.

Scally said: "I think Stan has given the players belief and bought some discipline to the club that was perhaps not there before.

"He has brought in one or two players that have given the club an extra dimension and got the players who were already here playing a lot better.

"I’ve always been confident that we can beat the drop. We are a good club and a good team, we just lost our way a bit.

"There’s still a way to go, though. There are nine clubs involved in the battle to avoid the drop and two relegation places left. We just need to make sure we’re not in one of them."

Scally also praised the Gillingham fans, whose vocal support has audibly increased in the past few weeks.

He added: "Our fans have always been fantastic but Stan has given them an extra spark. The supporters have always risen to the occasion when they need to."