Had things worked out differently, Chris Dickson could have been arriving at the Memorial Stadium tomorrow on Gillingham's team bus.

Gills boss Mark Stimson made no secret of his desire to take the Charlton marksman back to Priestfield for a second loan spell earlier this season.

But the deal collapsed and it was the Pirates who nipped in to land the 24-year-old, who scored twice on his debut in a 3-1 win at Brentford.

His arrival at the Memorial Stadium sparked a public spat between Gillingham and Charlton, with each blaming the other as the player headed west.

And there would be more than a tinge of irony tomorrow if Dickson plays a part in undermining the club where he spent the most prolific spell of his career to date.

He banged in 11 goals in as many starts for the Kent club during a three-month stint two years ago and remains in contact with some of his former Gillingham team-mates.

"I'm still in touch with quite a few of them – including Curtis Weston, Simeon Jackson and Dennis Oli – and there's been a bit of friendly banter flying around this week," said Dickson.

"You always want to get one over on friends and former colleagues. I'm a competitive person anyway and hopefully if I do well, the team does well and we'll get three points."

Dickson has gone three games without a goal – the leanest spell since his loan stint began – and he is understandably keen to start finding the net again after experiencing little joy in the Pirates' last-gasp 3-2 win over Carlisle last weekend.

That hunger may well be sharpened against his former employers – especially as he knows he will have to sit out Tuesday's visit to The Valley.

"I looked at the fixture list when I came here and saw that Rovers had Gillingham and then Charlton back-to-back," said Dickson.

"I know I won't be able to play in the Charlton game, but I'm looking forward to playing against Gillingham – although I'd have like to have gone into it in better form than I am now.

"I said before that I feel I've under-achieved because I've set myself a high standard and aim to score in every game."

Last weekend's clash with the Cumbrians was still deadlocked at 1-1 when Dickson made his exit just after the hour mark.

But he was as relieved as anyone when Chris Lines popped up with the scrambled late winner.

He said: "We said to ourselves that the bad run couldn't go on forever and we couldn't keep losing. Luckily we didn't drop too far down the table and now we've got a win under our belts, hopefully it can start a good run for us."