Stimson hopes his side will give a good account of themselves against Villa

Gillingham manager Mark Stimson has admitted his League Two side could be thrashed by Premier League Aston Villa in the third round of the FA Cup.

He told BBC Radio Kent: "If they play to their potential, we could be looking at seven or 8-0 quite easily.

"You're talking about top international players, let alone Premiership players.

"But will they all play? Will they all click at the same time? Hopefully they don't and we do. If that's the case we could surprise a few people."

With the League Two side set to receive �250,000 in television rights and ticket sales from Sunday's game, Stimson said the Medway club will be proud regardless of the result.

He started off where I started off and that's what I'm looking to do one day - compete at the highest level Mark Stimson on Martin O'Neill

"Whatever happens it's helped the club massively financially. You just wouldn't believe what it's done for this football club," he said.

"It was very important at the beginning of the year that we did better than we did last year in the FA Cup. We've done that.

"If you take the big four away, Aston Villa is the most talked about team in the country at the moment. And rightly so because they've got a young team who have achieved a lot with a fantastic manager.

"He[Martin O'Neill] is someone I have got a lot of time for because he started off where I started off and that's what I'm looking to do one day - compete at the highest level.

"He's done it, he's been through it, so it is possible."

There will have commentary of Gillingham v Aston Villa on BBC Radio Kent and online at bbc.co.uk/kent

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