It’s been a good week for Gillingham as after the FA Cup win at Slough Town last weekend, the club drew Premier League opposition in Round Three, the club’s youth side have themselves stunned Championship side Blackburn Rovers winning at Ewood Park in the FA Youth Cup.

And it was with the Youth result that manager Steve Lovell began his weekly press briefing with.

“Brilliant for them – they did really well; both Brian and Ben have been telling me how good it was and now hopefully they’ll get another big tie here at home at Priestfield, which will be great especially as they’ve been on the road so far.”

“It will be nice for them to get a really good draw – they’re a great bunch of lads and a good team and winning 2-1 at Blackburn is a great result up there.”

“There’s a couple of them who are close to the squad, but we’ve got to keep them level headed at the moment as it’s a big step from under 18s into men’s football – it’s a massive step so you’ve got to be careful and tread carefully, but there’s definitely between now and the end of the season a couple who will get involved with the first team.”

Swansea boy Lovell then turned his attention to Cardiff.  “It’s a great draw for us – to get a Premier League club at home in front of a good crowd here; they’ll be bringing a number with them I’m sure.”

“It will be a great day and it’s great to be in the FA Cup with the chance of causing an upset. We’ll enjoy it, prepare for it and give it our best shots – we’ll be the underdogs undoubtedly so there’ll be no pressure on us, so that we can go out and enjoy ourselves, perform and get something out of the game.”

“Needless to say we’ve got a lot of games between then and now and I’m glad to that the squad is getting back to normal although Brandon Hanlan’s done something to his hand and joins the suspended Callum Reilley not playing a part this weekend, but the rest are all there and ready for selection for what will be another tough long road trip.”

“We want competition all over the pitch, but I think we can highlight it in the defence. Barry Fuller has come in and done a great job and is keeping Luke O’Neill – who remember was one of our better players last season – out of the side and on the other side Connor Ogilvie is doing the same to Bradley Garmston, where he was unlucky to be after the Crawley game when he got man of the match, but he’s waited for his opportunity and he’s done a great job.”

“I’ve always picked a team on merit and who’s performing well and the back four now picks itself as they’re defending so well.”

“When you look at our away form in the last few weeks, we’ve won three on the road. So we’ll go to Scunthorpe and know they’ll put us under pressure during certain parts of the game, where we will need to defend, but we also know that if we play as well as we have been, we’ll get the chance or chances to nick one at the other end.”

“We won 3-1 at Scunthorpe last year with a really good performance and as long as we do our roles and responsibilities and should get something out of the game.”

“They drew 3-3 with Oxford from 0-3 so we know that they’ve got character and fight – we’ve just got to go there and continue what we’re doing.”

“We’ve got to make sure that over this Christmas period we put in the performances that deserve to get the points so in January we can see where we are. But Saturday up there will be a really, tough game because it means as much to them as it does for us.”

“There’s not much between the top and bottom of the League and if you have a good run of three or four wins, which of course you can at this time of year very easily indeed.  Five games – fifteen points – that’s what you’ve got to aim for as that’s all you can get.”

“There are a lot of teams who have been in League One for a few years now and so you get to know the players and how they play, and they do cancel each other out.”

“I’ve always said that in the this League this year, there’s nothing between the top and the bottom – even at the top there’s not a lot between them as there was last year where Blackburn stood out.”

“This year, the Portsmouth’s; the Sunderland’s; the Barnsley’s, we’ve all had good performances against them as other teams have done!”