GILLINGHAM fans were treated to the first telling signs of the new Mark Stimson era on Tuesday night during the 4-0 win over Dagenham in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.

The boss’ belief in the importance of fitness saw the Gills youngsters maintain a high tempo for 90 minutes – something which has been missing in recent times.

He said: "Since I have been in charge, we have been ahead in every game but we have struggled to keep that lead and go on and win it.

"A lot of that is down to fitness levels. We’re OK for 45 to 50 minutes but after that we’ve struggled."

He has brought Danny Ellis, his fitness guru from his days at Grays and Stevenage, to rectify the problem.

Stimson added: "We have a massive belief in the importance of fitness and over the next six or eight weeks you will see a difference in the players who put everything into the sessions we put on.

"That way we’ll find out who wants to play for Gillingham with the heart and the passion we have got and those ones will play and take the club forward."

Full match preview of Yeovil v Gillingham in Friday's Medway Messenger