Bristol Rovers fan's view by Dennis Payter: It was certainly a hard-working performance but I cannot believe we are up to seventh in the table after this display.

I know the weather was terrible and conditions got worse, but we needed a penalty to finish off a poor Gillingham side which showed why they have not won away all season.

Don't get me wrong, we deserved to win – but the Gills were no Leeds and we need to be beating teams like this more convincingly. I don't accept there are no easy games.

Stuart Campbell got no protection from the man in black and then to top it all our skipper suffered a booking for an innocuous challenge.

His midfield partner, Chris Lines, just gets better and better and is our most improved player of the season, taking his goal with style, while Jeff Hughes turned another fine display at left-back and put away a fine penalty.

But are we back on track and ready to challenge for the play-offs? No, not unless we can sign a decent striker and sort out who is playing wide.

Pat Baldwin looked a good loan signing and that made a change after our recent run of mediocre signings. And talking of mediocre, Chris Dickson again failed to show the attributes Paul Trollope claims he possesses.

After his performance last week I could not believe Dickson got a starting slot again on Saturday. I've not heard anyone have anything good to say about the striker.

It is worrying if our management think he is worth persevering with, I just hope he is not around long enough to attend the club's Christmas party.

We might as well start with Darryl Duffy or Andy Williams up front, but seriously a top striker is a must.

As for Dominic Blizzard, last week Trolls started with him wide on the right, on Saturday the right-footed midfield player was on the left, and again it didn't work. We were playing at home and the exciting attacking flair of Ben Swallow should have been given another start. Yes, he is raw, but he can only get better if he plays, and Ben made things happen from the moment he came on.

Tomorrow is the acid test for this team to show if we really are going to mount a serious play-off challenge this season with the tough away game at The Valley.

For two of my grandsons, Ben, seven, and Ollie, five, it was their first visit to see Bristol Rovers. I'm not sure what memories they will keep but Ollie loved his huge pasty. It was that sort of game.