Gillingham manager Mark Bonner was pleased to see forward Jayden Clarke continue to prove some people wrong.

Clarke scored his fifth goal of the season on Saturday, coming off the bench to head in the winner against Port Vale, in a 1-0 win at Priestfield.

The winger, who joined the Gills last January from non-league Dulwich Hamlet, has played in every game so far this season.

“It was a brilliant moment for him,” said the Gills boss, commenting on the 79th-minute winner.

“He just continues improving and getting better and proving some people wrong.

“He's a really good player, he's really talented and he should never relent on trying to get better, which sometimes he does, and if he does that and stays focused and wants to push he could do really well.”

Clarke, reacting on social media after the game, wrote on X: “Am I safe from Deano hate today? Jokes aside, delighted to get back to winning ways & another goal to go with it.”

The winger had started the previous 10 games but found himself out of the eleven on Saturday, having to wait patiently for his moment.

He was asked to play as a striker for the final moments and came up with the goods, heading in Conor Masterson’s cross.

“He closed his eyes and it hit him,” joked the Gills boss. “That was perfect!

“It was great and for us, a fast restart from Jack Nolan (from a throw), Conor Masterson high up the pitch with a cross and iyou wouldn't set up that as a pattern, but we asked the boys to try and find moments where they can get the game going quickly while the (opposition) team's disorganised, and they did that really well a few times.

“We put Jayden in a position he hasn't really played for us but we wanted pace there because we thought we could threaten them.

“We weren't huge creators of massive chances in the game but who cares.”

At the other end of the pitch, Bonner made a change in goal, with Jake Turner back between the sticks after playing Glenn Morris in the previous week’s FA Cup match against Blackpool.

Bonner said: “He did some good bits but didn't have so much to do.

“We had some strength on that bench and there's an argument any one of them could say I should be starting in that team and they're right.

“That's where you want to be because soon we'll have four or five coming back (from injury), they'll be saying the same thing, so that creates competition and if we can get to that point then happy days.”