By Luke Cawdell

Alan Julian praised his team-mates for their battling display in the 1-0 win over his former club Stevenage on Saturday.

The Gillingham keeper (pictured) made several crucial saves but was keen to credit the 10 men in front of him who helped see off a determined opposition.

He said: "When we played Port Vale on Tuesday I never had one shot to save. The boys that I have got in front of me have been fantastic and when you are called upon you need to be there sometimes to help the boys. Thankfully I was there.

"People are throwing bodies on the line to save goals for us. After the save I made (near the end), Joe Martin has made a fantastic block and if he doesn’t do that the save means nothing. A big thank you for him for doing that."

An important ingredient in helping Julian to successive clean sheets has been the form of central defenders Josh Gowling and Matt Lawrence.

"They have been fantastic," said Julian. "Josh wins so many headers and Matt goes into a tackle and is so confident of winning the ball. I can’t remember people getting around them."