Gillingham held onto a slender advantage against Salford to claim a much-needed three points.

Jayden Clarke netted his sixth goal of the season to put Gillingham ahead early in the second half – and that proved enough. The Gills went into the game following back-to-back defeats against Harrogate and Bromley. In poor weather conditions, this wasn’t a masterclass in football, but there was no shortage of passion.

Manager Mark Bonner made four outfield changes to his starting team for the visit of Salford and also switched back to a four-man defence.

Bonner had been playing wing-backs for just over a month, but with just one win in that time, he went to a 4-4-2 for the weekend match, handing Josh Andrews his first league start of the season and a first-ever appearance for defender Harry Webster.

Dropping to the bench following the midweek loss to Bromley was Shad Ogie, Remeao Hutton and Jack Nolan. Three outfield players from that game weren’t in the squad.

Gills were boosted by having Bradley Dack and Aaron Rowe back fit and in the squad.

The opening half was a feisty affair at times and referee Tom Nield wasn’t Mr Popular after making some unpopular decisions.

A tone was set when former Gills player Haji Mnoga - who had a poor half season on loan at the club and a red card inside 10 minutes of his debut - pulled Joe Gbode down while on the deck which led to a few challenges in retribution.

Gills were criticised for a lack of fight in their last match but Elliott Nevitt showed he had a bit about him, with a foul on Mnoga. Unfortunately, Matty Lund then went in hard on Nevitt in a series of tie-for-tat challenges.

Lund was eventually booked for another challenge - thankful he hadn’t already been cautioned - but Gbode would end up being stretchered off after another coming together appeared to have knocked the forward out following a knee to the face.

Chances at goal were in short supply but Conor Masterson served the visitors up with a chance on a plate. His weak pass was picked up by Tyrese Fornah, who played in Cole Stockton but Glenn Morris saved when one-on-one.

Morris was back in goal after Jake Turner injured himself in the midweek game at Bromley.

The Gills were frustrated as several decisions went against them from the officials, none more so than a penalty appeal was dismissed after Clarke had been tripped in the box by Ossama Ashley.

The match reached the break goalless with Josh Andrews heading wide and Nolan - who replaced Gbode - shooting wide. Gbode was thankfully up and talking after his painful knock.

Gillingham opened the scoring three minuets after the restart. Max Clark robbed defender Fornah of the ball as he looked to bring it out of defence and then played the ball to Clarke who lashed the ball home from just inside the box, taking a deflection on the way to finding the net.

Clarke had the ball in the net again a minute later when keeper Matt Young was unable to hold onto a Nolan effort bur the flag went up for offside.

Gillingham had struggled to make the most of taking the lead in games throughout the past few months. They had to try and build on their 1-0 lead.

Salford did see a fair bit of the ball midway through the half but were unable to threaten the Gillingham goal. Hutton was introduced on the wing for striker Andrews, aiming to give the Gills extra pace and a new outlet to try and attack from.

Referee Nield had his cards out to deal with Clarke and Curtis Tilt after they squared up, booking them both. There was certainly more of an edge and a fighting spirit to the Gills than in recent weeks.

Morris hadn’t been troubled much but was alert to make a couple of late saves to deny substitutes Kylian Kouassi and Conor McAleny as the Gills held on for a 1-0 win.

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