MARK STIMSON endured his first home defeat as Gillingham manager but was pleased to see his team go down fighting.

The 2-1 defeat to Port Vale on Saturday ended a 10-game undefeated run for the Gills but Stimson preferred to look at the positives.

“Performance-wise we’ve definitely turned a corner,” said the Gills boss. “There’s no comparison to the performances against Port Vale and the one (in the FA Cup) at Barnet.

“The boys came in after the game with mud on their shirt, sweat dripping off them and they could hardly breathe in the changing room. At Barnet it looked as though some of the players had been out on a Sunday stroll.

“We’ve turned the corner in that respect. Now we’ve got to try and keep putting the ball into the box, maybe sometimes quicker than we did against Port Vale and we’ll get our rewards.

“Myself and Scott Barrett (assistant manager) said to the players afterwards that we couldn’t ask for more, honesty- wise. There were just a few naive decisions defensively.”

More Mark Stimson reaction in Monday's Medway Messenger