Josh has made four starts so far in his loan spell away with Gillingham, after spending a large amount of last season on a similar deal with Hereford, his last appearance for Carlisle coming on the 8th of November 2008 in the FA Cup clash against Grays at Brunton Park.
That was Blues boss Greg Abbott's first game in charge after the sacking of John Ward and it became pretty evident from that moment on that Gowling wasn't in Abbott's future plans. Gillingham are interested though in a player that Ward signed on a Bosman deal in the summer of 2008 and whose contract at Brunton Park runs out at the end of this season, Gills manager Mark Stimson commenting to BBC Radio Kent on any possible deal :
" We are always looking to improve as much as we can but again we have always said, with our financial budget it has to be within what we have got and we have to deal with that. I think that every team if you ask them would like to have cover for certain positions. Obviously there are other targets that we are still after but nothing has happened on those at the moment.
" Josh Gowling's loan deal finishes on Saturday so we have got to try to do something on that one. We are hoping to try to deal for Josh, we have spoken to his advisers and I am quite happy with the way he has done. He has got a lot of improving to do but the most important thing is that he plays matches and learns by his mistakes and hopefully improves.
"So hopefully we can take him permanently. I think there's a really good chance of getting him, the kid's really interested in coming. He's enjoyed his time here. Now we're trying our hardest to make things happen."