Match preview: Boro boss welcomes former Spurs team-mates Justin Edinburgh and David Kerslake to the Lamex on Saturday

Teddy Sheringham wants Stevenage to go ‘full throttle’ against Gillingham this weekend in the FA Cup.

Boro suffered a 5-1 home loss to Oxford United last Saturday in a game in which they also had both Jamie McCombe and Michael Tonge sent off.

Sheringham says his players know they have to do things better - he has had to pick his players up after last weekend’s rout - but added that this weekend’s game is an opportunity for Boro to bounce back and upset the odds against a team in a higher division.

Asked what his last week has been like, Sheringham says: “[It has been] one of picking a team up. First of all analysing what went wrong, and I think we’ve analysed that and know what went wrong.

“It could have been worse. I could butter it up and say we had chances to make it 2-2 when we had 10 men, but it could have been a lot worse in those first 10-15 minutes and that’s what concerns me as a manager.

“[Now we’ve got to] put it to the back of our minds. We need to do better, but even if we’d won 5-1 it’s now been and gone, it’s history.

“The next big focus is Saturday, the FA Cup. It’s a game we’re prepared for.

“At first my instinct was of all the teams we could have got it’s the [team] at the top of the next division, but it’s a fantastic game.

“This is game we know we’ve got to be up for otherwise it could happen again. We need to be on full throttle and attack the game.

“When you know that you’re playing against better players, a higher football club in the Football League, you know you’ve got to play your best to get anything out of it. I see it as a very exciting game and one we can win.”

This weekend sees the visit of a Gillingham team led by two of Sheringham’s former Spurs team-mates, Justin Edinburgh, the manager, and David Kerslake, his assistant.

And although some managers have spoken ahead of this weekend’s round of matches about getting ‘away from the league’ for a weekend, Sheringham is having none of it.

“It’s a game we want to win”, he says.

“They’re two old team-mates from my Tottenham days. My first football match as a young kid was for a team called St Matthews when I was about nine years old, and it was with Dave Kerslake in the same team.

“We played in the same team at a young age and then England youth. I played with Justin at Tottenham for five years, so I know him very well and know what to expect from Justin and his teams. Hopefully we’ll be prepared.”

Sheringham added: “This is a game for Stevenage Football Club, and we want to win.

“Whoever we’re playing, there’s no relief. We’re still looking for consistency in our football.

“This is another game for us to be put on a pedestal, to be criticised or to get the acclaim. And we need to be performing to get that consistency and that confidence to take into our next league game.”