By Luke Cawdell

Josh Gowling is hoping to put a nightmare season behind him as he takes on a fresh challenge with Gillingham.

The centre-back, pictured right, joined the Gills on Monday for a five-week loan deal in a bid to convince manager Mark Stimson that he can compete with Simon King and Garry Richards for a place in the side.

Gowling endured a frustrating campaign at Carlisle last season and hopes Gillingham can offer him a place to enjoy his football once more.

"I had a bit of a nightmare (last season) to be honest," said the 24-year-old. "In the first game I broke my nose and was out for a few weeks, then I got ill and then after about 12 games the manager (John Ward) got the chop.

"With some managers you just aren’t flavour of the month and I wasn’t, so I went out on loan to Hereford."

Gowling played 13 games for Hereford at the end of last season. He was back at Carlisle this summer and made two pre-season appearances before Stimson came calling.

"I know what the manager wants from me and hopefully I can deliver," he said. "I’ve got a lot of experience in this league so hopefully I can take that on and add something to the team."