Gillingham head coach Stephen Clemence is refusing to think about their FA Cup Third Round tie against Sheffield United.
The Gills will host the Premier League strugglers at Priestfield on Saturday, January 6, but Clemence is ensuring their focus remains razor-sharp on League 2 points.
Having had Saturday’s trip to Barrow postponed due to a waterlogged pitch, Gillingham still have five League 2 outings to contend with before thoughts turn to a potential giant-killing.
“We’ve got five league games before then so I’ve not thought anymore about the Sheffield United game at all,” said Clemence, whose side beat Charlton 2-0 in the Second Round.
“We’ve got (five) games in (16) days, it’s going to be a busy period for myself, the staff and the players. We’re busy preparing for that.
“We take it a game at a time, you definitely don’t plan two or three games ahead. We’re really pleased with the boys and how they did last weekend, I’ve been pleased with a lot of stuff that’s gone on before that as well.
“Over time you learn more and more about the players, they learn more and more about me. I don’t plan too far ahead, my full concentration (was) on Barrow before I start looking at the next game and picking any teams for then.
“It’s great for the supporters to see us beat a team from the league above and also for the boys to play as well as they did.
“That’s the standard now that they’ve set and can we live up to those? I believe we can, they’ve got to bring it on a more consistent basis.
“It was a great day for everybody, I was pleased to see a lot of smiles on faces and then I watched the draw on Sunday and was pleased with that as well. It’s not going to be easy but we’ll try and give them a good game.”
Gillingham faced Premier League opposition at the same stage of the FA Cup last season, going down 1-0 at home to Leicester City.
Kelechi Iheanacho scored the only goal of the game in the second half but the Foxes’ season ended in disappointment after they were relegated to the Championship at the end of the campaign.
