A battling victory at Walsall on Saturday was the icing on the cake for Gillingham’s new permanent manager Steve Lovell.

He was handed the Gills job on Thursday, reward for a successful seven-game caretaker stint, and followed it up with a 1-0 win that took the club out of the relegation zone in League 1.

“It was a great away win,” said the 57-year-old Welshman. “It’s been a perfect week, absolutely perfect.

“It was great to have the news off the chairman on Thursday and then to go to Walsall and get the three points, it’s been an enjoyable weekend.

“I loved it on Saturday because we showed the other side of the game, the defensive qualities and the game understanding.

“As a coach or a manager, to have stood there after working on things and to see them come off (with a win) was brilliant, the best feeling in the world.

“We won 3-1 at Rotherham (earlier on in his caretaker spell), playing good football. This time for me it showed we can do the other side as well. That was pleasing, we can mix it up.”

It was a win that lifted the Gills clear of the relegation zone, on goal difference. It’s the first time they have been outside the bottom four since mid-September.

But for Lovell, the focus remains on winning points, game to game.

He said: “It doesn’t matter where you are in the league, it’s about the points. The more points you have the higher you are.

“It is nice to be outside the relegation zone at the moment but it’s the three points that matter.”

Lovell has had little time to relax since taking charge, initially on a caretaker capacity following Peter Taylor’s resignation. The Gills were one place off the bottom of the table at the time.

“My handicap at golf has gone up,” joked the former Kent Messenger Sunshine Challenge golf champion.

“But you don’t want time off, I love it, the involvement.”