Gareth Ainsworth has issued a passionate FA Cup rallying cry to his Gillingham players.

He’ll be making sure they aren’t taking the competition lightly as they prepare to face Barrow this Saturday.

The Gills host the National League side at Priestfield on Saturday in the first round, with Ainsworth determined to make the most of a competition he believes has lost some of its magic.

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The Gillingham boss admits the FA Cup has “become diluted” over the years, with the Premier League and Champions League taking centre stage, but he remains a huge advocate of football's oldest knockout competition.

And he wants his players to understand just how special it can be.

He said: “I'm a big advocate of the FA Cup. It's a big day for me. I want to be in the hat for round two. It's fantastic seeing your name come out in that draw.

“I've had some magic moments in the competition and I'm really looking forward to Saturday.”

Ainsworth's own FA Cup memories include a dramatic fourth-round tie with his former club Wycombe Wanderers at Tottenham in January 2017.

His side stunned Spurs by taking a 2-0 lead before the Premier League outfit fought back to level. Wycombe then went ahead again at 3-2, only for Dele Alli to equalise in the 89th minute before Son Heung-min struck a stoppage-time winner.

It remains a special moment for Ainsworth, who recalled the reaction of Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino after the game.

“[Mauricio] Pochettino was manager then and it was fantastic. We really surprised Tottenham that day. They didn't expect what we had.

“I always remember Pochettino coming up to me at the end of the game going, ‘I didn't realise the history and the value of the FA Cup until we played Wycombe Wanderers in this country’ and that's really nice. We've stayed in touch ever since, which has been really nice.

“It does open up these magic doors but you have to work hard to get them. When you get them, they're magical.”

Ainsworth is frustrated that the competition no longer holds the same appeal for some clubs and supporters, but hopes Gillingham can help bring that excitement back.

The Gills have their own £10 ticket offer this weekend to entice people in.

He said: “I'm so disappointed that clubs have to try their best to get fans through the door for the FA Cup. It used to be a regular, major fixture, and it's just diluted over the years, and it's a shame.

“I think the FA Cup’s probably taken a little bit of a hit. It's disappointing because I remember three channels on the TV and one of them on a Saturday in May was FA Cup history, Wembley Way, the buses coming home, the teams, how they got there. Magic days watching with my dad, and I've done it with my son a couple of times.

“But it seems to have died off and we need to reignite that, so hopefully Saturday we can reignite Gillingham’s FA Cup love.

“I actually dream of being out on the pitch sometimes because that is my love and when it goes, you never get it back, and you wish you'd have played more games.

“That is something I'll be saying to the boys, and saying if you cannot take this by the scruff of the neck and, yeah, there might be all sorts of teams in rounds one and two, but when you get to round 3s and 4s, the whole world is watching you, and that's really important. But it's tough.

“The whole world has changed and life has changed and the generation that we're looking at, the Zeds and the Alphas, it's tough to get them to understand things sometimes. We have to make sure that we are right on it and if the boys are seeing this, then don't you dare take the FA Cup lightly.”

The Gills will be favourites to progress, but Ainsworth knows they face a Barrow side arriving in good form.

The visitors have won six of their last seven games in the National League and will be looking to make life difficult for their hosts.

Ainsworth is well aware of the expectation on his side, but has urged supporters to get behind them rather than assume victory is a foregone conclusion.

“Everyone expects us to win,” he said. “Everyone wants to get their angry hat on if we lose and say, I told you so, we're not good enough, we're losing to National League. Well, let them do that.

“What I will say is we will give it a right go. This team that we’re playing, they were in the league last year. They have come down. They're in a really good period of form. They've got Adam Murray, manager, who's an ex-league manager.

“I think 22 out of the 24 teams in the National League are professional so this won't be an easy game. This isn't, ‘Oh, we should win this’. If anyone thinks that coming in the ground, then I'd rather them didn't come in.

“I'd rather people come in and go, ‘We need to get behind the team to win this’, not ‘we should win this’. You never should do anything. The moment you start thinking that is the moment it will trip you up.”