Defender Luke O’Neill was delighted to have helped Gillingham see the victory through on Saturday.

The Gills hung onto their 2-1 lead against Rochdale after coming from a goal down.

“Overall we deserved to win the game,” he said. “I thought we started slow, especially with the ball.

“We didn’t keep it as well as we would have liked, but credit to the boys, we stuck at it, got the two goals and won the game.

“Maybe we were a bit too deep (late on), it’s one thing we need to work on, but it shows the character, seeing the game out and winning it. It was a bit like Charlton as well, they came at us.

“The character is showing through, not just the back five, everyone on the pitch and it’s credit to the boys, we just keep going.

"They were throwing men forward and we were getting the ball, booting it forward and there was only Eavesy (Tom Eaves) up there, but credit to the boys, sticking at it. It is just good we got the three points.

“If you switch off for a split second they can punish you, but we did well, we dug out a result and got three points. The boys know what they’re doing, they know their jobs.”

Victory took the Gills up to 14th, as high as they have been all season, just nine points off the play off positions.

O’Neill said: “If we keep working hard on the training pitch, we can keep going up the league and see where that goes.

“But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, we have to focus on ourselves and get those wins, keep getting up the table, that’s the most important thing, to get away from that relegation zone.

“It would be a bonus if we get anywhere near the play-offs but with the lads we’ve got, we are more than capable of getting near.”