The proof is in the pudding for Gillingham boss Steve Lovell.

The Gills made it back-to-back away wins in League 1 to move seven points clear of the relegation zone on Saturday.

But it was the manner of their victory at Scunthorpe that Lovell hopes his squad can take inspiration from.

“It’s all about the team working together off the ball as well as on it, they worked so tirelessly for each other defensively,” said Lovell.

“That’s four away games on the spin that we’ve won. All right, there’s two FA Cup games there but it doesn’t matter – it’s winning games. If we play like that, we’ll win more than we lose.

“When you look at the goals we’ve conceded (before) it’s been because we don’t press the ball.

“We don’t get people out to the ball quickly enough, and it’s something we’ve been working on since the start of the season. If it works, the players will buy into it.

“I know from all the years I’ve been involved in football if you go and hunt the ball, and you hunt in packs, you will get it.

“The further up the field you can do that, then the more chance you’ve got of creating chances.

“We put them under pressure, we won the ball off them and we had opportunities to score, but you’ve got to have the willingness as a player to want to do it.

“As I’ve always said, they are a great bunch of lads, they want to work hard – even through the bad period that we had they never moaned, they came in and worked tirelessly to try and get it right.”

Lovell switched his forwards around on Saturday, moving Elliott List alongside Tom Eaves with Josh Parker playing in the hole.

It proved a tactical masterstroke, List’s pace causing the home defence problems and Parker’s intelligence creating chances.

“I changed it around because of Elliott’s pace and him working off Tom, and Josh’s intelligence playing in that number 10 role,” stated Lovell.

“That is Josh Parker at his best – the only thing that was missing was a goal for him.

“He brings so much into the game, his intelligence, his work rate, and it was great to see him back out there playing the way he did.

“The three of them linked up very well.”

Gills have lost only once in their last five games and Lovell is pleased with their improvement in recent weeks.

“We got this performance because we were disciplined with and without the ball,” he added.

“We work on it and then it starts to kick in. We saw little bits of it in the last two or three weeks, and then we saw more of it (at Scunthorpe). Now it’s a continuation of doing that.

“They understand the system that we play, and they understand what’s required of them.

“Now it’s all about pushing forward and making sure they repeat that on a weekly basis.”