Gillingham come face to face with former midfielder Bradley Dack when they play Blackburn Rovers this weekend.

Since his move to Ewood Park in the summer, Dack has helped the former Premier League side move to eighth in the League One table.

The absence of Dack has been instrumental in Gillingham struggling this season and the 23 year old is looking forward to facing his former side:

“I think it was the right time to go,” Dack said of his decision to leave Gillingham. “I think I needed to go further in my career and unfortunately that wasn’t the club I could do it at.”

“This (Blackburn) is a great place to play your football, the training ground has got everything, it’s another step up from Gillingham and playing at Ewood every week isn’t too bad.”

“It will be nice to see a few familiar faces but it’s business and we’re going to try and beat them.”

“I want to win even more having played for them for five years.”

“I grew up around that sort of way and growing up with the players that I had known since I was a kid so it was just like playing with your mates.”

“I stayed there for five years and had successful seasons and not so successful seasons but you get those ups and downs in football.”

“I enjoyed my time there.”

Meanwhile, Dack believes Peter Taylor will have Gillingham well organised going into the clash:

“He’s a good gaffer. He gets teams organised so I expect him to have them very organised defensively.”

“The other night they got a clean sheet (against Scunthorpe) so I think that shows what he will bring to the team.”

“He gets on well with the players, he wants everything doing well and covers every detail.”

“He likes to play defensively and it will be tough to break teams down, as we found with Wimbledon, but we have the quality to do that.”

Peter Taylor will have midfielder Lee Martin available again following a three-match suspension.

Striker Tom Eaves is serving a four-match ban after collecting a fifth caution and then being shown a straight red during last weekend’s loss at Rochdale.

Defender Luke O’Neill hobbled out of the midweek goalless draw against Scunthorpe, so will be assessed, but forward Conor Wilkinson should return to the squad following his hip problem.

Midfielder Billy Bingham continues to recover from a concussion in training earlier this month, while defender Bradley Garmston and midfielder Scott Wagstaff are stepping up recovery for their respective calf injuries. Aaron Morris (knee) remains a long-term absentee.

Blackburn have received a quadruple fitness bonus ahead of Gillingham’s visit.

Rakeem Harper (hip), Ben Gladwin (thigh), Craig Conway (hip) and Scott Wharton (ankle) all trained on Thursday after all four missed the midweek win over Rotherham.

That leaves boss Tony Mowbray with just long-term absentee Darragh Lenihan (foot) on the sidelines.

Midfielder Harry Chapman is pushing for a start having come off the bench to score against the Millers.