91Èȱ¬

Adebayo Akinfenwa's first two goals of 2014 helped Gillingham to a hard-fought home victory against Port Vale.

Akinfenwa connected with Bradley Dack's corner for the opener and the two combined again in similar fashion for the striker's second goal.

Cody McDonald then neatly slotted home thanks to a third assist from Dack.

Two late Vale goals ensured an exciting finale to the match with Chris Robertson heading in and Jordan Hugill finidng the net from close range.

Defender Robertson's header was ruled to have crossed the line despite the Gills protests.

The win means Gillingham have moved up to 11th in the table while Vale remain ninth.

Gillingham boss Peter Taylor told 91Èȱ¬ Radio Kent:

"For 70 minutes I'm happy, but the last 20 minutes I probably aged too much because we went from doing well to being incredibly nervous and panicked.

"The way Port Vale finished, they had at least three goals in them - we had to be careful.

"Everyone knows we have good ability in the squad, but you're guessing who will perform well. As long as they all put in as much effort and thought as they can then you can only hope for good performance.

"We need to get stronger - I think we made good progress, but for the last 20 minutes I think we need to be a stronger team as we know we've got a bit to do."