Gareth Ainsworth proud as Gillingham beat Tranmere

Gillingham boss Gareth Ainsworth was proud after his side finally kicked off their season at Priestfield with a 2-0 victory over Tranmere.

Logan Dobbs, with his first senior league goal, and Ronan Hale secured the Gills a first home win of the campaign.

Ainsworth has been adamant his tenure at Gillingham is a process and he believes this performance showed how far along the journey they are.

“It was one of the best performances at Priestfield for me,” praised Ainsworth.

“I harp back to what I’ve been saying for 18 months – give me some time because I can put a team together.

“I know what they can do. That looked like a fit, organised, controlling team and that’s what we’re after.

“We didn’t look like we were going to flag at all.

“It’s great as a manager when you get to say these things. It won’t always go like this, believe me, but it was a really good performance.

“The fans are getting towards the end of those summer days and I’m hoping they can stick with us through the winter after that.

“These boys have given everything and they deserved to win the game, they maybe could have scored one or two more as well.

“I’m really pleased with where we are right now. I hope people can see we’re different now.”

For Tranmere, their woes on the road continued as their wait for a win away from Prenton Park continued with this defeat.

Rovers boss Darrell Clarke, speaking after his side’s first loss of the season, said: “That was not for me, the performance. Too many players were a decent percentage off it.

“On another day we create so many more chances. It’s a frustrating day because if we perform at the levels anywhere near how we’ve been performing then we win the game.

“The gaps were too big at times, our final pass let us down, our finishing let us down massively.

“We need to take control of the game. It became a basketball game at times.

“I’m disappointed with both goals. It’s a corner, the referee apologises but that’s scant consolation to me.

“We have to use this as a kick up the backside. I’ve been really pleased with the group so far, but this shows how much work we still need to do.

“I won’t be putting up with performances like that. It was nothing about commitment or desire, it was more the quality out there for me.”