Stuart Nelson saved two penalties against Colchester United and scored one himself in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy tie
22:00, 07 October 2014
Goalkeeper Stuart Nelson scored the winning goal for Gillingham in his hundredth game for the club.
And the 33-year-old, who was returning to the side for the first time since the opening day of the season due to injury, could barely contain his joy.
Nelson scored the winning goal in the penalty shoot-out against Colchester.
And he said: “It may be the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy but that is magic for me and it was so special. I worked so hard when I was injured and you do it for days like these.
“The team dug in to get us to penalties, because we didn’t play very well in the first half and we got a bit of a rocket off the gaffer, for not really doing enough and rightly so.
“In the second half we took it to penalties and we won, so happy days."
Nelson saved two penalties and then took Gillingham’s fourth, to win the tie.
He said: “I had to nip in for the loo (before the penalty shoot-out) and when I was in there I was thinking, ‘I better not lose my place, I want to put my name forward (to take a penalty).’
“When I came out they were still divvying up the names. I was determined to take one and it was down to the manager. He put me in.
“I was meant to be the fifth penalty taker but the boys told me to take the fourth and I wasn’t going to turn that down.”
By then the Gills were 3-2 ahead and one more goal would win it.
But Nelson said: “I didn’t actually know it was the winning one, otherwise I would have run to the four corners of the empty stands.”
More: Stranded Gills hero gets a lift home with the KM.
Winning the game, however, wasn’t as important as making his century appearance for the Gills.
He said: “There are a lot of things important to me. Winning the game is obviously important but to turn out 100 times for a great team like Gillingham is special to me.
"I have had a great time here and I have always had the backing of the fans, they have been different class.
“Whatever game it is, I am turning out and wearing the club shirt and that is all that matters for me. I am delighted.
“It was in my head at the start of the game (that is was the 100) and I just thought, ‘get through the warm-up and don’t get injured’. I just wanted the ref to blow the whistle. Once he blew the whistle it was game on.”
