The visit of Premier League opposition won’t change Gillingham’s approach this weekend.

Cardiff are the visitors to Priestfield on Saturday for the third round of the FA Cup and Gills manager Steve Lovell insists it’s business as usual.

“We will prepare as if it is a league game on Saturday,” said Lovell.

“Because it is a Premier League club coming doesn’t make any difference. We will still do

the same thing and work on our game.

“It doesn’t matter how Cardiff play because they will most probably play differently to any others in our league.

“We will prepare the way we want to, play the way we want to and if we get something from it, great stuff. If we don’t then as long as we put in a good performance that is all I am worried about.”

Cardiff, losing finalists in 2008, needed a replay to see off League 2 Mansfield at the same stage last season having been beaten at the third round stage in the previous two seasons. Prize money for the winners of Saturday’s game is £135,000.

Lovell’s side were beaten 2-0 by Southend on New Year’s Day in League 1, but the performance impressed the boss and he’ll be hoping for the same again.

He said: “If we can perform like we did Tuesday we can give them a game.

“It’s going to be tough, obviously. It is something new to our young players and something to look forward to.

“We will have a go, like we do every week. If they give 100% you can’t ask for any more and they certainly did that on Tuesday.”

Defeat in the week left the Gills just a point off the bottom four.

Lovell was frustrated at the manner of the defeat, having been denied what appeared

to be a definite goal, but he took positives from the performance.

He said: “It is gone and there is no point harping on about (the disallowed goal). We have to look forward to the rest of the season and if we keep performing

like that and keep playing as we are doing, I think we will be fine.

“It is all positives. I know we had a 2-0 defeat but I will take positives out of everything.

“The positives were the performances and the amount of chances we created. It is just unfortunate we didn’t get anything.

“We know that if we perform to our best we can beat anyone in the league and we have proved that. It is the consistency of it.

“Saturday against Doncaster was a disappointment (losing 3-1) but Tuesday was a great improvement.”