LEON JOHNSON is vowing to cement his place at the heart of the Gillingham defence next season.

Johnson, 23, was thrown into Gills injury-ravaged side last season and did an admirable job and says he is ready to make a first team place his own.

The former Southend man has just returned from a holiday in Cuba and is relaxing before embarking on an important pre-season for the club.

He said: "I really enjoyed last season, despite it being a relegation fight. At the start I had a few injuries but the second half of the season was great.

"It was nice to be involved and I gained a lot of experience playing in a lot of games and it's made me a better player.

"I was a little bit disappointed not to be involved in the game at Stoke but the manager went with experience and we survived.

"But I'm looking forward to pre-season now and performing well to get that first team spot. Everybody starts equal in pre-season and I'll be looking to impress.”

And Johnson tipped Gills' young guns to fire their team up the Division 1 table next season. He singled out Richard Rose, Danny Spiller, Andrew Crofts, Jones Awuah and particularly Dean Beackwith to challenge the more established players for a place in the starting squad.

He added: "We've got some very good young players at the club, especially Dean Beckwith, he's a very good player and I hope he gets his chance.

"But I'm really hoping to make my mark, in the same way Danny (Spiller) did this season. I want to play as many games as I can."