Gillingham 2 Wigan Athletic 1

GILLINGHAM assistant manager Ronnie Jepson heaped praise on two-goal hero Darius Henderson after the impressive victory over leaders Wigan at Priesfield on Saturday.

Henderon’s double made it seven for the season in Gills’ colours and Jepson said: "He wants to learn which is good and he got his reward today for hard work on the training field. He could have had a hat-trick in the end, which he would have deserved."

"He’s a big strong boy who’s still learning the game and is one of those that you have to drag off the training field.

"The kid is always asking to stay behind after training to do certain things and he gets his rewards for it."

Gills sprang to life in the second half and at times battered the visitors after making changes at the break. Mamady Sidibe was brought on in place of Matt Jarvis, with the extra striker making a major difference.

Jepson added: "We knew how Wigan would start off because they’re a high tempo team and a very good side.

"We always had it in our mind to change from 4-5-1 and we always had Mama up our sleeves in the second half."

Sidibe played in Henderson for the first goal, while his perseverance led to the second and Jepson was delighted with the player’s return, after a lengthy absence with an Achilles injury.

"We did a bit of light training this week and we always had it in our minds that he’d play some part in the game, although it would have been unfair to ask him to do 90 minutes," said Jepson.

"When he came on he gave us that little boost and a little more firepower. We got a couple of breaks where they hit the bar and the post – and the other week at Wolves we just weren’t getting those breaks – and so it was all credit to the lads.

"Having said that, we had quite a few breaks in their box and maybe we could have got a couple more goals in the second half."

Henderson’s strikes took him past Darren Byfield in the Gillingham scoring charts, with the out of luck forward having to spend the match on the bench.

"The gaffer felt we wanted to change things around and we went into a different formation," said Jepson.

"There was no problem with Darren being on the line and the manager picks his best 11 that he thinks will do the job and it worked out well for us."

Jepson would not be drawn on Danny Spiller’s exclusion from the squad, although he admitted the player had no injury, while he dismissed speculation linking Iwan Roberts with a move away from the club.

Gills will be hoping a trip to basement side Rotherham on Saturday can finally end their six-month run without an away win. The Millers were beaten 1-0 at the weekend by Sheffield United.