Gillingham hit four goals on Saturday in a clinical display against Carlisle United.

Manager Mark Bonner knows there were moments his team rode their luck, but in a game where the visitors had more attempts at goal, it was the Gills who made it count.

“Don’t expect that every week!” joked the manager after the 4-1 win.

“It is tough scoring but we certainly took our moments really well and we do want to be a team that can find those moments.

“There were spells in the game where we had too long without the ball, got too deep, got forced back into the half, didn’t get enough pressure on them in the opposition half, or with the ball.

“There’s loads to work on but I was really pleased that people came out and saw a performance that they like and it’s quite a while until we are back here (at Priestfield) but hopefully we get a really good support when that happens again.”

Bonner said pre-match that Saturday’s game would be a useful marker, up against a Carlisle side who have invested over the summer in an attempt to get straight back into League 1 after last season’s relegation.

The Gills hit them with an early goal through Tim Dieng but were then on the backfoot for a lot of the first half as Carlisle responded well, with several shots going wide and one against the woodwork.

Jacob Wakeling capitalised on a defensive mistake to put Gills 2-0 up early in the second half and although Carlisle got one back, the hosts scored a third following a brilliant run and finish from Jack Nolan and Jonny Williams capped off the win with a goal from distance.

“We are really pleased,” said the manager. “it’s a tough, tough team, a tough first game, on a difficult afternoon in terms of weather and things like that.

“Probably our best part of the game was the very beginning. I didn’t like us after we scored, I really liked how we started the second half and I thought the third goal was so important and when we got it that killed them a little bit and we were excellent.

“We have to play with that kind of vigour when the game is that much in the balance.”

It was Bonner’s first league game in charge of the Gills as the League 2 season got under way.

He said: “You just want to win the game, you take it any way you can.

“The scoreline makes that sound more comfortable than that was. It was really tough for us in the first half and tough for us during a period of the second.

“Once we got the third it became a bit of a different game, a bit more comfortable for us.

“We started fast and finished really strong.

“I really liked the impact all of the boys had in the game. Three points was a big thing for us. If you can win your first game and win at home, we have done it scoring goals, so absolutely delighted with that.

“We had moments in the game where we found it difficult against a good side but if you would have offered us that at the start of the day I would have been absolutely chewing your arm off. “