Jermaine McGlashan surprised himself by heading Gillingham’s winner at Crawley last weekend.

He had never scored with his head before meeting Bradley Dack’s late cross to earn a 2-1 victory.

He said: “There’s been a bit of banter flying about with the boys.

“We practise headers in training and it’s not my favourite part of the game, so it’s kind of ironic that I’ve gone and scored a header and it was the winner.

“When the ball came over, I just thought ‘I’ve got to throw myself at this’ and I was glad when I saw it go in the back of the net, along with myself."

He added: “I made sure I kept my eye on the ball because previously at Crawley, I missed one from underneath the bar with my foot.

“I didn’t know what to do or who to celebrate with. It was like ‘hold on, this has gone in’. You’re happy but it’s hard to explain.”

McGlashan was handed a rare start as Gills boss Justin Edinburgh abandoned a midfield diamond in favour of 4-2-3-1.

The 26-year-old has often made more impact as a substitute but showed what he can over 90 minutes.

McGlashan added: “It’s a hard one because some of my better games have come off the bench. I’ve just got to show that if I do start, I can do a job and won’t disappoint.”