TOMMY JOHNSON'S spectacular 50th minute strike earned Gillingham a 1-0 win from last night's friendly at Southend.

The former Glasgow Celtic, Aston Villa and Derby striker took his chance brilliantly when he latched on to a half clearance to lash home a left-foot drive from the edge of the penalty area.

It was Gillingham's first shot on target and ended a sequence of successive defeats against Lens and Lille in France.

Gillingham included 21-year-old trialist goalkeeper Scott Ward from Luton and he impressed in the second half with fine saves from Michael Husbands in the 54th and the same player in the 75th.

But even though the side won and kept a clean sheet, player-manager Andy Hessenthaler was unhappy at the end. He said: "We can do a lot better than that. We need to up the tempo because there were times, especially in the second half, when we treated the match like a testimonial."

Gillingham continue their pre-season preparation on Saturday at Hessenthaler's home town of Gravesend.