The first time was in 1970 and ironically was the club’s most comfortable triumph as Peterborough United were beaten 5-1 at Priestfield.

The club would have to wait until the end of January 1982 for their next appearance when First Division West Bromwich Albion came to Priestfield and with the crowd literally hanging off the rafters, Keith Peacock’s side were left asking what might have been when defender Derek Statham crashed home the winner in stoppage time after two headers – one from a young defender call Steve Bruce in the first half came back off of the Albion woodwork.

Two seasons later (in 1983/1984) came the three meteoric and titanic battles with eventual Cup winners Everton. After a 0-0 at Goodison Park when Bruce hit the bar again, the first replay went down in the Priestfield history books as quite possibly the best 0-0 game ever seen at home base.

It was the tie that had everything on a night when Neville Southall produced the near perfect goalkeeping display to somehow keep the Gills at bay, whilst Bruce and his defenders had the night of their lives at the other end to keep Everton at bay.

But again it was what might have been as Terry Cochrane’s volley crashed back off a post – courtesy of a miraculous Southall touch, before with literally the last kick of extra time a young Tony Cascarino was denied by “another” piece of Southall brilliance in a “Cascarino must score!” moment!

Sadly the second replay was played in the teeth of a gale and the Gills were literally blown away 3-0 with all three coming in the last 15 minutes of the first half, from if memory serves messers Sheedy, Sharp and Gray!

The following season saw a trip to First Division Ipswich Town where the Gills were edged out 3-2 after coming back from 2-0 down to equalise at 2-2 courtesy of Mel Sage on the famous FA Cup day that York City beat Arsenal 1-0 at a frozen Bootham Crescent…

It was to be 15 years until the club went as far again and indeed the run to the Quarter Finals in 2000 remain the best performance in Priestfield history.

On this instance Peter Taylor’s side beat Premiership side Bradford City by 3-1 against major rebuilding work at Priestfield, with goals coming from Andy Thomson, Junior Lewis and John Hodge.

That longest ever Cup run was ended at the last eight stage by Chelsea, and it was the Londoners who ended the club interest the following season too – only this time it was live on SKY Sports as Gills recovered from being 0-3 down at the break through goals from Paul Shaw and Iffy Onuora. Sadly Chelsea scored again and finished up winning 4-2…

The Gills then enjoyed three seasons in round four because of their promotion to the Championship meant three years of missing out on rounds one and two. For the record, the only win of the three in 2002 saw a round five trip to Arsenal after beating Bristol Rovers by the only goal at Priestfield…