by Luke Cawdell

Simon Royce is hoping for a change of luck when he returns to his former club on Friday night.

The Gills keeper spent almost seven years at Southend, making 169 appearances for the Essex side earlier in his career but his recent memories have not been good.

"It’s not been a happy hunting ground for me," he said. "The last two times I’ve been there I’ve been done 5-0 and 3-0.

"I will be looking forward to going back to Southend and hopefully the result will be a little bit different. We will win away from home eventually, let’s try and make it Friday at Southend."

That 5-0 defeat came while on the books at QPR in February 2007.

Scoring twice that day for Southend was Kevin Maher, who with 455 appearances at the club, is the third longest serving player in their history.

Maher is likely to be on the bench again for the Gills as the former Southend captain is currently down the current pecking order.

Another former Southend player in the Gills’ ranks is Garry Richards but he will be lucky to get a squad place against his former employers. He played 14 times for Southend.

One of them was against the Gills, the last time the clubs met at Roots Hall in September 2007. Maher was also playing as Steve Tilson’s Southend side won 3-0.