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Steve Evans is keen to put the FA Cup on the back burner ahead of a tough run of League 1 fixtures for Gillingham.
It doesn’t get much bigger than Saturday, when the division’s glamour boys Sunderland come to Priestfield.
The Gills have games against the likes of Portsmouth and Ipswich on the horizon too before their big date with Premier League West Ham in the third round of the FA Cup at the start of January.
“We have some magnificent games coming up,” said Gills boss Evans.
“We’ve got Sunderland, Portsmouth, we’re going to Ipswich’s Portman Road and then we have West Ham coming early new year. Wow! Does that sound like League 1 to you? It doesn’t to me.
“It is brilliant for our players and supporters. Let’s hope that we get some big attendances. The more people we can get back at Priestfield the more chance we have of winning.”
Evans has told his players to worry about their performances in the league before getting too excited about the FA Cup.
He said: “I have said it to my staff and to my players. We all enjoyed the draw on Monday night, the boys bounced back in on Tuesday, as you would expect. They are young men.
“But the only way you can be in that team against West Ham United is to perform in the league games prior to that. If you don’t perform in the league games then you’re out of the team.”
Sunderland, meanwhile, are finding the going tough with manager Phil Parkinson under pressure after struggling to turn their form around.
Since losing to the Gills in the first round of the FA Cup the Black Cats nicked a stoppage-time draw at home to Coventry and then lost to Burton at the Stadium of Light.
They are 11th in the table and not in the kind of form expected from a team backed at home by 30,000 fans, most expecting a return to the Championship at the second time of asking following last season’s play-off final defeat to Charlton.
The Gills were unlucky not to beat Sunderland in the first match against them in the FA Cup, having to get the job done in a replay. Producing another performance of that level will be tough, admits Evans.
Sunderland also had the benefit of a weekend off, following their FA Cup exit.
He said: “They have had 10 days to freshen up, 10 days to get players back from injury and they will be a different proposition I guess here than what they were in the FA Cup.
“I know Phil well, he is a very gifted manager. Those last two results weren’t great and they needed a break but they knew this was coming.
“They have had the chance to get some players back in that weren’t available against us and it will be another battle.
“I think it will be the hardest of the three games, for sure.”
