Chris Whelpdale may yet to have convinced everyone since moving back to the Gills on a permanent deal but is it any coincidence his return to the side has coincided with the recent revival?
He may well admit himself that in the early stages of the season he failed to live up to the billing after becoming one of the more high-profile signings that boss Andy Hessenthaler made.
His whirlwind loan stint in the previous campaign saw him net three goals in four games before injury cut short his stay. Try as they might, the Gills were unable to bring him back until agreeing a fee with Peterborough in the summer.
Those blistering performances were in short supply at the start of the season but are we now starting to see the real Whelpdale?
A lot has been made of the influence that the youngsters have made to the Gills and that has been fully justified. Whelpdale himself may feel he should still be classed as a youngster. He has only just turned 25 which means he should still have his best years ahead of him.
In recent weeks he has been deployed in an advanced attacking position and he seems to be thriving on the chance to get involved at the top end. He has scored four goals in his last eight games, the kind of form that is better than leading scorer Danny Kedwell.
Whelpdale was dropped to the bench for the match against Wimbledon in January. The Gills lost 4-3. He failed to make the team for the game at Accrington, where the Gills again suffered a 4-3 defeat, and again missed out when the Gills suffered a third straight loss. This time going down 2-1 to Southend.
Hessenthaler recalled him for the trip to Port Vale, where the Gills boss also brought in youngsters Connor Essam and Jack Evans. Whelpdale was on target in what ended in another defeat but at least the performance was far better than in previous weeks.
Since then the Gills and Whelpdale haven’t looked back.
The former Posh man has started every game and is beginning to look like the player which led the Gills to digging deep and shelling out cash to bring him in from Peterborough. If Crawley boss Steve Evans' programme notes were to be believed, he was one of several players who turned him down for a more favourable deal with the Gills.
Gillingham need their best players performing at this stage of the season and Whelpdale appears to have answered Hessenthaler’s plea. At a time when the Gills couldn’t buy a win the Gills boss needed some of those summer signings to give him a bit of pay back. Whelpdale has certainly started to do that.
He is looking like a vital cog for the Gills and the last goal at Cheltenham showed what a class act he is. A neat interchange of passes with Jo Kuffour and Kedwell opened up their defence in the latter stages.
Up next are Crawley and Whelpdale will certainly be hoping for a better end to his last meeting against Evans’ side. He left the pitch with a nasty testical injury – one which gained worldwide exposure (thanks to Danny Spiller's twitter account) – following a challenge from David Hunt.
He will be looking to avenge that painful setback and in the form he is showing he could end up hurting Crawley where it really hurts.
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