Gillingham’s midweek FA Cup game against Carlisle United unsurprisingly fell foul to the freezing conditions – but the extra time wasn’t wasted.

Gills, who had been due to travel up to Cumbria on Tuesday morning, were instead back out on the training ground in the afternoon following the postponement in preparation for the visit of Bristol Rovers on Saturday.

Boss Steve Lovell said: “We would have liked to have played the game, because after Saturday’s performance (at Plymouth) I was looking forward to going up there and carrying that on but it gave us an extra day on the training ground.

“The temperatures had been poor up there. They did have the pitch covered but with the low temperatures they have had, it went through it.

“We were told before most of us set off and that was fine.”

Gillingham and Carlisle fought out a 1-1 draw in the original second round tie at Priestfield, leading to a replay, but temperatures in Carlisle dipped to -11 on Sunday night and then -6 on Monday night.

It left the playing surface with frost-hardened areas, particularly in the shaded sections of the stadium, despite the pitch being under cover since last Friday.

The game will now be played on Tuesday, December 19, with the winners at home to Championship side Sheffield Wednesday in the third round.

Lovell said: “With the busy Christmas period it is a bit of a nightmare, logistically, to sort it out but we will see what we can do. We have an important game coming up now and we’ve had an extra day of training to get them ready for Saturday.”

Gillingham have still to rearrange their Kent Senior Cup quarter-final match away to Maidstone. That game had been moved from Tuesday night because of the scheduled Carlisle fixture.