ANDY Hessenthaler has spoken of his delight at his side’s spirit in winning Saturday’s thriller with Millwall.

Nyron Nosworthy’s late winner put the seal on a memorable match that saw Gillingham beat rivals Millwall 4-3 and move up to 11th in the table.

Player-manager Hessenthaler, who played the last 20 minutes and helped Gills come back from 3-2 down, said: “It was an unbelievable game.

“We made a couple of changes with myself and Rod Wallace coming on but and even at 3-2 down with Marlon King and Rod I always felt we could score goals.”

And Gillingham needed to score because they leaked three at the other end, falling 2-1 and then 3-2 behind to a goal from Paul Ifill and a brace from Bob Peeters.

Hessenthaler added: “I’m sure Mark McGhee and myself will be watching the video and looking at our defences because defensively we were very poor.

“But we have to give ourselves a little pat on the back character-wise because, like last week when we were behind at Watford, we showed character to come back again. All credit to the boys.”

First half goals from Mamady Sidibe and former Millwall player Paul Shaw were added to by late strikes from King and Nosworthy. And Hessenthaler admitted he had considered substituting King before the striker netted the equaliser.

He said: “I must admit I nearly took Marlon off but with Rod Wallace coming on I just wanted to see that combination up front.”