Former Gills favourite Charlie Lee will be in the stands backing his current team to pull off a shock on Saturday.

The Leyton Orient captain is out with a long-term injury but believes his team-mates can give the Gills plenty to think about in the FA Cup first round tie.

Lee said: “It is well documented what happened at Orient (almost going out of business in the summer) and there has been a massive turnaround.

“The club is in its lowest league position but it is in a much better place, with a good future ahead, and hopefully it starts with an FA Cup win on Saturday.

“Our best performance (this season) was in the FA Cup against Dagenham, it was a really good game and it has been probably the highlight of our season so far.

“You are always looking for a result to kick start the season and if we can go to Gillingham and get one, against a team two leagues above, that would be a massive boost for us.”

Lee is hoping to get back to play some part of this season after suffering a serious knee injury at the end of August, one of several key players to pick up knocks.

He said: “We lost two central midfielders and two centre-halves but the boys who are playing are very talented.

“For the boys who are playing now things are starting to click. We have played quite well in the last few games, without always getting the results, but performance levels have increased a lot. We will give Gillingham a good challenge.”

Lee will be watching from the stands and is sure to get a good reception on his return. He played 100 league games for the Gills and was part of the League 2 title-winning team back in 2013.

He’s been with the Os since the summer, having spent three seasons with Stevenage before that.

“It would be amazing to get a nice reception,” said the 30-year-old midfielder.

“I had such a great time at Gillingham, I loved every minute. It will be good to go back.”

Read more from Charlie, talking about former team-mate Connor Ogilvie and working under Graham Westley, in Thursday's Medway Messenger newspaper.