Jonny Williams was over the moon after scoring his first Gillingham league goal on the opening day of the 2024/25 season.
Williams, who came on as a second-half substitute, scored the fourth in the 4-1 victory against Carlisle United.
With a crowd of over 7000 supporters at the MEMS Priestfield Stadium, there was a raucous atmosphere in ME7, which the former Wales international admitted gave the team that added boost.
Scoring his first Gills league goal...
There's some relief, but I am very pleased! I'm over the moon. It's one of those in my career that I have always wanted to work on. Getting in better goal-scoring positions but also having the confidence at times to go yourself and take the responsibility and take the strike and go for goal.
Today, I did that, and it paid off. Hopefully, it's the first of many this season.
I have spent a lot of time on the edge of the box in my career, and you see players like Scholes, when it falls to them on the edge and you just want to hit it. There are so many bodies, and there was a gap, and I know that I can hit the ball clean at times.
It was one of them that when you know that you hit it well, you know that you have a chance of it flying into the back of the net. I am delighted and really happy to score.
The atmosphere at the MEMS Priestfield Stadium...
It was brilliant. The boys love playing in it, and it makes a huge difference to us when the fans are behind us and cheering us on. We gave them something to cheer about today. We gave them four goals and a lot of passion and pride. There's a changing room downstairs that wants to fight for the badge and do something special here.
It's three points, it's the first day of the season, and everyone is delighted, but we have got a tough game on Tuesday at Swansea, and we will be going there hoping we can get through to the next round.
The culture amongst the squad...
We have got a great group of boys down there. There are some real characters, and we have all bonded really well. It's important when you want to achieve something as a team. You want to get on as a group and look forward to coming in every day and working hard when the time is right but also enjoy being in each other's company.
It's been great, and I think that we have that blend here, so I am looking forward to the rest of the season.
The new lads have offered that freshness, that hunger, that desire, pace, energy, and they have slotted in really well.
