Former Rovers favourite Bradley Dack has opened up about a difficult season at Gillingham after getting back in the goals.
Dack came off the bench to score a 95th minute winner against MK Dons at Priestfield Stadium over the weekend.
It was his first goal since September 2023 when he got on the scoresheet for Sunderland in the Championship.
“It was about time! It is brilliant to get the win,” he told the club channels. “The new manager (Gareth Ainsworth) and the assistant (Richard Dobson) have come in and they have been brilliant, a breath of fresh air. They have been first class.
“Over the four or five games they have been in, we have probably deserved more from a couple of them and they deserved that as much as us. As a collective, it is nice to finally get a win.
“I was expecting (Conor Masterson) to head it across. That is what we had planned to do and it worked a treat.
“I saw it come through bodies. I was going to knee it in but at the last minute, I kind of stopped myself because I didn’t think I would be able to get enough power. I took a touch and luckily he couldn’t get it off the line.
“Scoring a goal like that in the last minute is an indescribable feeling, you can’t really put it into words. There is nothing else that comes close to it, it is just amazing.
“You kind of get lost in the moment and if you could bottle that feeling up, you could sell it for a lot of money!”
Dack has made 15 league appearances to date in his second spell with the Gills, with only three of those coming from the start.
“I have waited a long time for that,” he added. “Everyone knows the season hasn’t gone as planned for me, personally, and the team as a whole. I would like to have played more.
“I have been fit since the start of December. I won’t get into stuff that has gone on at the football club but it has been difficult for everyone.
“Hopefully, this is a new start and we can finish these last four games off nicely and go into next year on a real high.”
The attacking midfielder returned from injury in December but found himself out of the team under John Coleman, who had a stint in the hot seat following Mark Bonner’s sacking.
“Hugely frustrating, to be honest, coming in at the start, picking up a few niggles and then managing to get right,” Dack recalled.
“We had a plan in place that started in the Wimbledon game. We were going to kind of work it week by week.
“Once Mark got the sack, that was kind of thrown in the bin and things didn’t work out under the last manager for me, personally.
“There were reasons why (I wasn’t playing), I won’t divulge those. We disagreed on certain things and sometimes you can’t get on with everyone.
“That was a disappointing three or four months for me, feeling like I could make a big impact in the team.”
Blackburn-born Ainsworth left his role at Shrewsbury a division higher to take charge at Gillingham, and Dack says he has had a positive impact at the club.
The former Rovers man is one of the more experienced members of the squad and happy to take on a leadership role off the pitch.
“We have had conversations. I think obviously he sees me as a senior pro and bit of a leader, I take that responsibility on,” he said.
“He spoke to me about the dressing room, what he wants and what he doesn’t want with regards to standards around the place and all those kinds of things.
“I think he believes in me as a player. He spoke to me at half time and said where I would be playing, he said a couple of things tactically he wanted me to do.
“Like I said, he has been brilliant. I have really enjoyed working with him in this short period of time and hopefully that can continue.”
Saturday’s result saw the Gills end a six-game unbeaten run and they are now mathematically safe from relegation with a 13-point cushion above the drop zone. Ainsworth’s side are back in action on Friday afternoon when they head to Cheltenham Town.
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