Gills boss Andy Hessenthaler praised his sides’ “siege mentality” as nine men beat Oxford United 1-0 on Saturday afternoon.

The home side had both Joe Martin and Lewis Montrose sent off with the latter scoring the winner late on in the first half.

Despite being reduced to nine men, Gillingham managed to fend off Oxford who had plenty of chances to win the game themselves with Hessenthaler full of praise for his side:

“It’s what a football match is all about. I’ve got to say I am very proud of my players, especially going down to ten men is always going to be difficult. It showed me, and hopefully shows the fans what this team is all about.

“I asked the players to wear the shirt with pride and go out and give everything they can. I thought we were outstanding.

“We have some young players in there who got a little bit nervous, like Lewis Montrose. He was outstanding second half. It was unfortunate he’s got sent off.”

Hessenthaler admitted his side deserved to have Montrose sent off, but was less clear on Martin’s dismissal:

“It was a rash challenge and he’s a young boy. It was a shame.

“He’s gone for one, and there’s a lot going on in the game.

“He didn’t go in with two feet, he went in from the side, and it looked worse than it was.

“But he’s a young boy, and in the heat of the moment, he’s made a poor decision, but I won’t be too harsh on the lad, because he’s a fantastic player and he’s won the game for us.

“Oxford are a good side. We had to adjust. We didn’t do ourselves any favours, giving the ball away cheaply.

“They didn’t really cause us masses of problems. They had a lot of the ball in the first half, we got the goal.

“Second half obviously they’ve caused us more problems because we’ve been down to ten and then nine men.

“That siege mentality when things were going against us just shows what spirit we’ve got in this camp and I tell people to wear the shirt with pride, and every single one of them did that.”

The Gills bosses challenge now will be to see his side take that spirit and form with them to face Swindon Town at the County Ground on Tuesday night.

Paulo Di Canio’s side beat Plymouth 1-0 at the weekend and there is no love lost between the two sides.

Gillingham should well have striker Danny Kedwell back available for selection having sat out Saturday’s game with a toe injury.