David Prutton has been likened to Jesus by Leeds United fans because of his flowing locks and facial hair, so it seems appropriate that he should be at the heart of his side’s attempted resurrection from Coca-Cola League One to the Championship.

In front of more than 38,000 spectators, Elland Road’s biggest crowd since the club were relegated from the top flight, Leeds fought back from a goal down to secure fifth place and a play-offs semi-final against Carlisle United. For Gillingham, defeat condemned them to relegation to League Two to complete a miserable afternoon for Paul Scally, the chairman, who incurred the wrath of his Leeds counterpart, Ken Bates, by supporting the Football League’s decision to deduct them points. The warring pair refused to acknowledge each other, but Bates had the last laugh as goals from Bradley Johnson and Tresor Kandol rendered Simeon Jackson’s opening strike meaningless.

Prutton, providing the guile and experience in the Leeds midfield, said: “It started a few weeks ago, when I had a bit of a beard to go with my long hair. This meant I had a vague resemblance to the Son of God – in the fans’ eyes, at least. It is nice, if a little surreal, and I suppose, with Jesus in our team, we should not do too badly. We will fancy our chances against any of the three in the play-offs.”

Gillingham have already started planning for next season, with Mark Stimson, the manager, threatening to show the door to players who are not committed to winning promotion. “If we can keep the nucleus of this squad, we’ll have a brilliant chance of coming straight back up,” he said. “I’ll be meeting with the players on Tuesday and asking them if they want to be part of taking this club back into League One. They have to be 100 per cent committed; if not they can find other clubs.”

Leeds United (4-4-2): C Ankergren – S Gardner, L Michalik, P Huntington, P Sweeney (sub: S Carole, 60min) – D Prutton, J Douglas (sub: F Delph, 76), A Hughes, B Johnson – T Kandol, A Elding (sub: R Marques, 90). Substitutes not used: D Lucas, A Thompson. Booked: Douglas.

Gillingham (4-4-2): D Stillie – N Southall, D Cullip (sub: L Griffiths, 76), S King, J Nutter – S Lewis (sub: D Oli, 72), K Maher, A Crofts, M Bentley – G Mulligan (sub: A Miller, 55), S Jackson. Substitutes not used: C Kiely, G Ba. Booked: Mulligan.

Referee: P Dowd
Attendance: 38,256