Manager Steve Lovell praised his side’s ‘magnificent’ first half showing on Tuesday night.

Gillingham led 2-0 after just 18 minutes at Northampton, laying the foundations for yet another away win, the seventh since Lovell took charge in mid-October.

“We played very well,” said the Welshman.

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Report: Northampton Town 1 Gillingham 2

“First half, we came out the blocks as we had done for most of the games away from home, apart from Wigan. Apart from that one game we had come out the blocks firing all cylinders and the game was won in the first half hour.

“We were magnificent and they couldn’t cope with us. We could have had three or four in the first half maybe, it was very pleasing.

“When they play like that it is a pleasure to watch, the only disappointing thing is that we didn’t get the third and the fourth goals.

“The main thing is we were creating chances, playing good football and the boys were in control and that was it mainly in the first half.

“The first half was most probably the best of the season so far.”

Northampton came back into it after the break, pulling a goal back after 55 minutes.

“We knew they would come and have a go at us,” Lovell said.

“We had to weather the storm a little bit, we tinkered with the formations a bit and we got it right at the end, for a great three points.”

Lovell made changes in personnel and formation midway through the second half, which helped stemmed the tide after Northampton had restarted well.

The manager said: “We made a couple of changes which we had to do, to try and counter their shape. We managed to do that.

“When you have people like Lee Martin and Scott Wagstaff to bring on, it helps steady the ship. Ben Nugent and Callum Reilly came off and they both had great games.

“We had to make those changes to go back to a formation to try and stop them from being dominant.”