Gillingham 1 Bournemouth 0

Gillingham claimed a narrow victory over Bournemouth on Saturday thanks to Nicky Southall�s second half strike.

His goal midway through the second half gave Gillingham the lead despite being under pressure for much of the game.

The first half ended goalless and there was little for the home side to smile about as they went into the break second best.

Bournemouth hadn�t created many clear cut chances but they dominated possession and Gills keeper Simon Royce had to make a good save to deny Mark Molesley just before the break.

Gillingham�s best chance fell to striker Andy Barcham but his header went straight into the visiting keeper�s arms on 30 minutes. An early headed opportunity for Mark Bentley was also kept out by Shwan Jalal.

With almost an hour gone, Gillingham were still struggling to impose themselves on the game and manager Mark Stimson brought on substitutes John Nutter and Simeon Jackson.

Almost immediately, the Gills responded and Jackson shot across the face of the goal.

Then, with 58 minutes gone, Barcham beat his man inside the area and pulled the ball back for Southall to score.

Bentley headed an effort over from a Southall corner but apart from that, there was little in the way of goal scoring chances for either team.

Gills manager Mark Stimson said: �The first half wasn�t good enough and I said that to the players at half-time.

�Bournemouth set up to frustrate like they did against Dagenham the other evening. We didn�t get the ball down and play anywhere near as much as I would have liked.

�There weren�t many positives to talk about at half-time. I just expressed to the players that the second half had to be better and if it�s not, we�ll make changes. In no uncertain terms we told them to liven up because they weren�t doing themselves justice and weren�t doing us justice.

�We�re fighting to get into the play-offs or automatic promotion and playing like we did first half we�ll have no chance of that. Second half was a lot better.�

Vote for your February player of the month now - click here.

Gills: Royce, Fuller, Steer (Nutter 55mins), Bentley, King, Southall, Miller (Jackson 55mins), Weston (Richards 86mins), McCammon, Barcham, Oli. Subs not used: Lewis, Julian.

Bournemouth: Jalal, Garry, Pearce, Bartley (Tindall 85mins), Igoe (Feeney 31mins (Goulding 71mins)), Connell, Hollands, Molesley, Robinson, Cummings, Fletcher. Subs not used: Pryce, Partlington.

Attendance: 5,353