STRIKER Andy Thomson has been officially inducted into Gillingham supporters’ hall of fame - three years after his Wembley winner.

Thomson headed the winning goal as Gills won 3-2 after extra-time in the Division 2 play-off play against Wigan in 2000. The goal shot the Kent club into Division 1 for the first time.

But Thomson failed to turn up for a Heroes Night arranged by fans in his honour on August Bank Holiday Monday in 2001.

However, now Alan Liptrott, a former chairman of the Gills Independent Supporters’ Club, has flown to Glasgow to make the presentation to Thomson at the start of his new club Partick Thistle’s Bank of Scotland Premier Division match against Livingston.

Thomson, who scored in a 5-2 win, received a crystal decanter inscribed with the Gillingham badge, plus two crystal goblets, a special plaque recording his Wembley triumph and a bottle of malt whisky.

Thomson said: “To come all this way to make this presentation is something special, but then the Gills fans are special. My time at Gillingham was among the happiest of my career and I would like to thank all the club’s supporters.”

Asked why he failed to attend the Heroes Night, Thomson said: “It was because of circumstances beyond my control.”