Gillingham manager Mark Bonner hailed their huge weekend result from a game where few gave them a chance.

Visitors Port Vale went into the fixture four points clear at the top of the table, unbeaten in 10 and with wins from their last five in the league. In contrast, the Gills had taken just a point from their previous six.

Report: Gillingham 1 Port Vale 0

But a hard-working performance helped limit Vale to just one good chance, which striker Jayden Stockey spurned, and one penalty shout that the referee wasn’t interested in.

Jayden Clarke came off the bench to score the winner for the Gills - his fifth of the season but a first in his career that he could recall coming from his head. That goal was enough to clinch a 1-0 victory.

Winning boss Bonner said: “There's a team developing there nicely with all of the challenges and changes that we're constantly making.

“I don't care that it wasn't a classic at all. I thought we were good. I thought we were worthy of the win and I think it's a huge result against a team absolutely flying.

“Everyone will have looked at their phones and everyone would have come (to the match) thinking, ‘I hope we win’, but no one would have given us a chance.

“Huge credit to the lads for finding that level, finding that performance, sticking together when people lose a bit of faith. It's easy to do that, but they haven't.

“It's a huge result for us and we'll be so much stronger for it.”

The Gills have climbed back up to eighth in the table, now just four points off the top three with a third of the season played.

“We're buzzing,” said the manager. “We're relieved, firstly, because we've needed a win.

“It was always going to be a tough one to win but the fact that we beat a team 1-0, who were unbeaten in 10, two back-to-back manager-of-the month awards, they’re absolutely flying, built a gap so that they're still top. They've had an incredible run.

“They had a really good chance second half but other than that, we've given them nothing, absolutely nothing.

“I thought without the ball we were absolutely brilliant. Our pressing and intensity in the first half hour was just class.

“In the end, we had some really good spells of control without creating loads.

“Our substitutes had an excellent impact in the game. Even in the end, I didn't feel like we were hanging on. We're absolutely delighted.

“Overall, huge credit to the staff, huge credit for the players because the best thing I can say is after a run that we're on, we haven't looked like a team that's been on that run at all.

“We've been proper at it. They deserve it. Everyone deserves that winning feeling again. It's been too long.”