Manager Mark Bonner has thanked the 400-plus Gillingham fans who backed their team at Morecambe on Saturday.

The Gills' away support made themselves heard in the north west as they cheered their side onto three points.

A 580-mile round trip didn't put off 404 away fans who made the trek, many of whom would have gone to Swansea in midweek and will be planning to back Gillingham at Fleetwood next weekend.

"I'm so happy for the supporters that have travelled the distance they have," said Bonner.

"Some of them madly would have done both games this week - an unbelievable effort that.

"We get paid to do it, and we found it hard work, so for them to pay to do it, fair play - and thanks.

"People told me before I came here that we get really well supported on the road and we're seeing that already, we'll see it again next weekend."

Having taken over eight hours to travel to Morecambe by coach on Friday, Bonner is already expecting a long trek to Fleetwood at the start of a Bank Holiday weekend.

"We'll probably beat the record next weekend as well for how long it takes to get here - Bank Holiday weekend, what a time to go to Blackpool!" he said.

"It's early enough in the season where you just laugh it off and crack on. For us to come through all those things and get a result is a big day for us."

There are positives ahead for the Gills boss. His team now has two blank midweeks ahead, an ideal time to rest those who have had a tough week but also to improve the fitness of players absent at the start of the campaign.

"The beauty is we haven't got Tuesday, so it turns to Monday's organisation and we'll watch the game back on the bus," explained Bonner post-Morecambe.

"We haven't got that fast turnaround and we've got two blank weeks now which will help us massively, help us get some fit, help us do some training, help us do some work as we've got loads of work to do and you'll hear me say that all the time.

Report: Morecambe 0-1 Gillingham

Reaction: Gills end ‘brutal week’ on a high

"For the group that travelled we didn't have necessarily all the options that we had last week but we still had an impact in the game and still had players that came in and did it.

"On a day when we might not have been at our best, there were loads of reasons why and I think it's understandable as well. We weren't going to let it be a reason why we couldn't get a result from the game.

"If we'd got a point, yeah we'd have taken it, but we wouldn't have been happy. We want to chase wins, we had a go at trying to get one in the second half and I liked the way that we got it."