Defender David Tutonda believes Gillingham fans are the best in League 2.

Priestfield was buzzing again at the end of Tuesday night’s game after a late winner and the 27-year-old feels the fans are making a difference.

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While fan patience has been tested to the max this season, attendance are now on the rise as the Gills enjoy a wave of positivity following a change of ownership and investment into the team.

Tutonda, speaking after the 2-1 win over Grimsby, said: “The fans are massive and it is always an upside when you have the best fans in the league, that is what we have here.

“If we keep on performing on the pitch we know they will be behind us, no matter what.

“The support is so good, home and away, even at the start of the season when things weren’t going right we felt we still had them with us, that makes a massive difference.

“It is nice to be paying the fans back for their faith and hopefully we can keep doing that.”

Aside from the recent “pay what you can” sellout, the crowd for Tuesday night's game with Grimsby was the second best of the season at Priestfield. The home fans are finally getting their money’s worth - albeit Tuesday’s game got off to a slow start.

It’s three league wins in a row for the Gills at Priestfield since the takeover. Before that, in complete contrast, the team had lost three on the spin infront of their own support without scoring.

The players have enjoyed reconnecting with the fans after emerging from one the worst periods in the club’s history.

Tutonda said: “It's always a nice feeling to be winning, especially at home, infront of your own fans and we want to make this place a fortress, we want to make it a place we can’t get beaten and that’s what we are aiming to do.

“We’ve got a wonderful dressing room, it was disappointing to lose at the weekend against Mansfield but we had a quick turnover and we knew what we wanted to do and that was to get the three points and nothing less, we have managed to do that and long may it continue.”

The Gills are now out of the bottom two, with four wins from six.

“It is pleasing, a step in the right direction but the job is far from complete,” the defender said. “It is nice to be out of that zone, it’s never nice to be in it, we have to keep on looking up and take it game by game and continue to progress.”