Martin Allen hailed his “immense” group of players after coming through an epic against MK Dons with maximum points.

Gillingham were 2-0 up and facing a team with 10 players but let the Milton Keynes back in the game, at 2-2, before Danny Hollands headed home a second half winner.

“It was that strange situation wasn’t it?” said the Gills boss.

“Everyone knows when the opposition go down to 10 men they seem to play better and step up their game. I don’t know why but people tend to drop off.

“MK Dons to play good football and it’s been drilled into them. It was always going to be a difficult fixture against 10 men, at 2-0 up.

“You have to give a lot of credit to our players and staff. When they got back to 2-2 at half-time I asked the players what they were going to do. The could have buckled and folded.

“All the preparation and work we have done are for times like this when it is testing and it is tricky, mentally. What are you going to do? Are you going to make something happen to win it or are you just going to sit back and hope.

“God bless them, from the work and the training and the preparation, they went up another gear. We had numerous chances to have won by more and I thought the players were truly immense.

“The players now need to rest but mentally they will keep going. We have cuts in the dressing room, we have splits, kicks and bruises and bumps, they have been battered, but they fought like warriors. They need to be rested and then we go again.”

Kedwell struck both penalties, in the 11 and 13 minutes, while Hollands won it on the hour.

Neither things were a surprise for Allen.

The Gills boss said: “He ( Hollands) has a scoring ratio of one in four so that was fully expected. It was a great header and something that was practiced in training. He has a very good ratio and that’s what we have got him here for.

“When we get the penalties and Kedwell gets the ball, it is something that we have practiced in training. He scores, that’s it.”