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Brandon Hanlan sealed Gillingham’s weekend win with their third goal against Southend and hopes they can now build on the victory.
The 3-1 win came off the back of a 1-0 home defeat to Ipswich in their previous match at Priestfield and a disappointing 3-0 reverse at Oxford last weekend.
“It was a good day and it’s what we needed,” said Hanlan. “It’s definitely a good reply after last week at Oxford. We have to keep building and pushing on.
“We owed the fans one, those that travelled to Oxford, and the boys got together from minute one. I feel we played well and deserved the three points.
“We shouldn’t have performed how we did at Oxford, we knew we were better than that and we’ve shown how good we are. We can only keep getting better. It is a new team and we just have to keep building next week.”
Hanlan went off to a rousing reception in stoppage time, replaced by Alex Jakubiak.
He appreciated the home support on Saturday.
“The fans at home this season have been unbelievable,” he said.
“I feel like they are always behind us and it helps you as a player because it makes you buzz and do better.”
Hanlan’s goal three minutes from time sealed the points, scoring infront of the Rainham End.
He admits he could have scored before that but was glad to finally get one, taking his tally for the season to three.
“It is always good to get chances because you know you are getting in the right positions,” said the 22-year-old.
“Obviously I would want more goals but it’s a long season. It was a poacher’s finish (on Saturday) and when the ball was in the box I just had to get there. I would take that all day.”
Strike partner Mikael Ndjoli had two penalties in the match, missing one and having another saved. But Hanlan was full of praise for the on-loan Bournemouth youngster.
He said: “No striker ever wants to miss two penalties but you could see he was one of the best players on the pitch, he was a threat all game.
“You have to have courage to step up for the second penalty, after missing the first, it didn’t go his way but he still played well and was an asset to the team.”
