Gillingham face the long trip to face Sunderland this weekend looking for their first league victory on Wearside with full back Ryan Jackson looking forward to playing at the Stadium of Light for the first time in his career.

Steve Evans’ side make the long trip North on the back of seven points out of nine which has coincided with the new loan signings of Callum Slattery and the returning Olly Lee – a fact that isn’t lost on Jackson.

“They’ve lifted the squad,” he told us, “they’ve brought a lot of quality to the squad. In addition to Robbie (Cundy) at the back – he’s aggressive in the air and good with his feet – it’s allowed Connor (Ogilvie) to go into his favoured position at left back.”

“So, I think we look like a solid outfit at the back and Olly looks like he can pop up with a few goals which will help. Add to that, Slats can break down a play and put his foot on the ball and keep it as well.”

“Sometimes you need that safety net and being able to trust him on the ball – he’s got a good pedigree coming from a good club – and he’s got us ticking over.”

“I think we’re now looking more threatening in games and if we can take that forward and continue and build on that. Bringing experience in can go both ways as can bringing in the youngsters – sometimes the youth can come in and hit the ground running. And then sometimes with a bit of experience coming in, the lads know what they’re going to do from the start – it really does depend on the player and how they adapt to the style of play.”

The Gillingham right back has never played at the Stadium of Light where Sunderland have struggled this season, and he admitted that he’s looking forward to Saturday afternoon.

“The Gaffer doesn’t let us get complacent going into any game – he always keeps us on it making sure that we stay focused and approach the game properly.”

“It would be a big result if we can bring the points back – that long trip there… there would be nothing better than to come back with three points. It would help us for a good push in the coming weeks.”

“We’re pretty used to playing at the bigger grounds with no fans there now sadly,” Jackson said.

“Obviously in our favour it is a bit of an advantage playing away when there’s no home fans there; we’ll just try to stick to our game-plan and hope that it works!”

“We know that they’ve got good players and are a massive club, so you’ve got to give them respect. But we treat everyone the same – we have our game plan, and we try to execute it the best that we can and hopefully that will be enough on the day.”

“If we can get a good result, we’ll all be happy but let’s take one game at a time – we had a good result on Tuesday against Crewe and hopefully we can build on that step by step, but the main thing we must have now is to get consistent.”

Picture supplied by Gillingham Football Club.