Pompey have come a long way

The good news is that I´ve finally come off my crutches today. The bad news is that I´ll miss our FA Cup trip to Portsmouth this weekend.

In the past, Pompey were a team we always fancied taking three points off, but they´ve come a long way since they got promoted to the Premiership. In fact, their team is almost unrecognisable from the one that we were familiar with and that´s why the lads are all looking forward to the match.

You always want to play the big sides and pit your wits against the big players, and we´re going into the game as underdogs, that´s for sure. But in a way, that suits us. We can play without the pressure that´s been surrounding us in recent weeks and we know that Pompey will be expected to win on home turf. Fratton Park has always had a lovely surface and I´m sure that whoever gets picked to play will do the Gills proud and will hopefully pull off a shock result.

The role of the underdog shouldn´t be underestimated; we found ourselves in exactly the same situation last year when we played Charlton at Priestfield and I think we surprised many people with our performance that day. A draw would have been a bonus for us, but once we´d got playing and got among the Charlton team, we soon had faith in our ability that in a one-off game, we could produce something special. To win the game 3-2 was a fantastic achievement and it holds special memories for me as I was named Man of the Match after the game.

I think the key to beating Pompey is to keep their front players quiet. They have goals and every trick in the book in Yakubu, LuaLua and Berger, so if our defenders stay solid, then we have every chance. It´s also important to keep their fans quiet but on past experience, I know that is not going to be easy.

While I won´t be able to play, I´ll still be going down to the game to cheer the lads on. It´s getting really frustrating watching from the sidelines but I´m not too far away from a return now. The physio has pencilled in the Leicester game on January 22 as a match where I might be ready for a return to the squad, but there will be plenty of hard work ahead before that date. Having taken the cast off, I´ve just looked at my calf and it seems to have disappeared. I´m walking around with a rubber leg at the moment!