Gillingham chairman Paul Scally has handed manager Steve Lovell a new longer-term deal.

Manager Lovell has guided the Gills from second bottom to 10th in League 1, losing just two of his 17 league games in charge.

He took over from Peter Taylor in the middle of October, with a mission to keep the Gills out of the drop zone and on a deal until the end of the season.

The Gills aren’t safe yet, officially, but they are in promotion form and head to leaders Wigan this weekend full of confidence.

Lovell’s reward is a deal for another two seasons after this one, with terms set to be finalised over the next few days.

Mr Scally said: “Steve has done extremely well and I enjoy working with him.

“I don’t like making changes unless there is a real reason, right now we are happy with the way things are going and we want to carry on with what we are doing.

“Nobody could be anything but very happy with the way things are going generally, on and off the pitch.

“I am just hugely pleased, ecstatic, that he has managed to get it right and that he is doing what it takes to win football matches, because we had a long time without winning matches.

“It is nice to go into a game thinking you have a chance of winning. It is a happy camp and he has played a big part in that.”

Read more from the Gills chairman in this Thursday's Medway Messenger newspaper.