Martin Allen praised his team’s defensive qualities after being made to work hard for their points on Saturday.

AFC Wimbledon fought back in the second half after going behind to Romain Vincelot’s first half goal.

But the Gills were able to keep their hosts out to record a narrow 1-0 victory.

Gills boss Allen said: “It was a great performance. In their (AFC Wimbledon’s) last home game they were 3-0 up at half time and you could see why.

“They are a powerful, strong team, well-organised but all of our players showed tremendous courage. It has not been easy for the players, who got back from Torquay at 5 o’clock in the morning on Wednesday.

“It was backs to the wall (at AFC Wimbledon) and everyone defended to a man. Everything against us was from long range so fair play to all our players. The showed commitment, desire and strength of mind to defend that solitary goal.

“We have played better football but sometimes during the season it’s going to be like that and every one of them stood firm and stood up to the test that was presented.”

Allen felt the conditions, with a bitterly cold wind, didn’t help their endeavours to play the way they like.

“We had to make some changes and the wind was a massive factor in the game,” said Allen, who was missing Joe Martin and Deon Burton, from the team who played at Torquay, through injury.

“We could have passed it better and done this and that better but the bottom line is we won 1-0 and all eleven players defended that goal valiantly.

“It’s not always easy to watch and not always what we want but when they stand and defend like that it was full of guts, it was well-organised and disciplined.

"We gave very few free-kicks away and that’s the way to do it. It’ s going to be like that sometimes but it was fantastic.”