Manager Justin Edinburgh hopes Saturday’s table-topping defeat will make Gillingham stronger.

The Gills were knocked off top spot after losing in stoppage time to Walsall, who leapfrogged them into first place.

Edinburgh said: “We go into the second week of November sitting third in the league, a point off the top and that is a fantastic achievement by this group.

“We are growing and we will get better with this.

“It is a test and this is the first time this kind of situation has happened to this group. We will learn from it.

“We are hurting but we were in the game and probably deserved something out of it. It’s now a case of making sure we bounce back.”

It was Gills’ first defeat in a month but came in far different circumstances to their 2-0 loss at Barnsley.

The manager’s positive mood reflected that. He said: “The game was a fantastic advert for League 1. It was a very entertaining game and we have played a big part in it.

“When we lost at Barnsley I was bitterly disappointed with the performance. We deserved what we got but this was hard to take. It was a very good performance that unfortunately hasn’t got us any points.

“I look forward to a response and playing that kind of football at that level again.”

Read the full story as part of 10 pages of sporting action in Monday's Medway Messenger