Blues defender Cameron Burgess is looking forward to Monday’s live-on-ITV4 FA Cup clash at Bracknell Town every bit as much as the non-league hosts, who have labelled it as the biggest game in their history.
Burgess, who was a late substitute in the 3-2 league win at Port Vale last week, is set to be in the starting line-up for the first time in more than six weeks since picking up a nasty set of facial injuries in the 2-0 home win over Bristol Rovers in mid-September and undergoing intricate surgery to put things right.
The Scot, who came into English football years after emigrating with his family to Australia when he was only 11, is expecting the Bracknell part-timers to give their all and believes it is key to the outcome that he and his teammates have a similar approach.
Reminded that the television cameras will be present because they will be hoping for a famous upset, Burgess was asked about the mindset going into Monday’s first-round clash. He said: "Me, personally, I’ve been involved in a few games where I’ve lost to opponents from a few leagues below. This tie is quite a big jump as well.
"For me, it might be a case of because I remember those occasions, I’ll be doing my best to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
"My aim is to go on to the further rounds of the FA Cup and advance so far that we become the underdogs because we’ll be playing one of the big boys.
"I think it’s about treating the game as we would any other, trying to get a good start and being thoroughly professional about the task in front of us.
"We need to have the mentality that it is a big game and treat it as such. The FA Cup is a big competition so we need to do what we always do and we have a group of lads who I know will do that.”
Is it a distraction to a team sitting high in the league and whose number one priority is to win promotion back to the Championship after a four-year absence? "No, not at all,” said the former Aussie youth international.
"We have a competitive squad and everyone is chomping at the bit to get minutes on the pitch. This is the sort of game that players want to be involved in.”
Burgess, 27, recalled the collision, soon after the restart, with Gas substitute Harvey Saunders that put him on the casualty list. "I slid in and won the ball but his knee came into contact with my face,” he remembered.
"That’s pretty much how it happened, although I had to watch it back to see what had actually taken place. In the heat of the moment I wasn’t really sure.”
Used to plenty of aerial battles at the heart of the Town defence, and when he ventures upfield to add his height as an additional threat at free-kicks and corners, Burgess added: "Heading the ball is a big part of the job and you always run the risk of taking a knock to your head.
"But you don’t expect to emerge from the sort of tackle I made that night with a facial injury.
"It’s probably a good thing, to be honest, that it wasn’t an aerial collision that did the damage.
"It didn’t really hit home at the time, and it probably still hasn’t, but with it being a bit of a freak accident it’s not as if I’m going to be concerned about heading the ball in the future.”
The most disappointing aspect of the injury was that it came at a time when Burgess had successfully emerged as a first-choice defender alongside Janoi Donacien and Luke Woolfenden in the Town backline, with George Edmundson the man who had to drop down to the bench to make way.
The ex-Accrington Stanley man continued: "I’d slung a few games together, which was good, and it felt as if I was getting into full swing, another big plus.
"But I don’t feel that much has changed, although I know I have to get back up to full speed if I’m going to get myself back in the team, which is what I’m aiming to do.
"It is going to prove to be a difficult task because the boys have been doing well and always will do. I’m just looking to get some more minutes on the pitch and take it from there.”
Burgess was pleased to be part of the action in the Potteries last week as Town bagged all three points at the expense of Port Vale, even if there was very little time left when manager Kieran McKenna brought him on. "It was just good to be back out there again,” he admitted.
"It had been a few weeks so I was itching to get back on the pitch and it was good to get a few minutes, see the game out and come back with a good result.
"I was hoping to be out for as short a time as possible, to be honest, and it was different to, say, a knee or a hamstring injury, which you would have to be more careful with.
"It was a different process, making sure the bones had healed properly and that the medical people were happy, then I was good to go really.”
Burgess was a spectator for last week’s astonishing 4-4 draw in South London as Town twice surrendered a two-goal advantage and had to settle for just one point as Charlton somehow managed to level in the closing stages of stoppage time.
"A crazy ending, obviously,” he said. "It was good to go away and score four goals but it was all a bit demoralising at the end to be honest.
"But football can slap you in the face, as we’ve seen before. I played in the Carabao Cup defeat at home to Colchester and that was a similar thing, getting beaten by about the only shot they had in the entire game. We just have to learn from it and try to make sure it never happens again.”
Asked if there were any concerns about shipping six goals in two away games last week, he added: "No, we were playing against good opposition and we’ve had a good points haul overall this season.
"We played against some top teams in that period and they are going to cause problems and pose threats. It’s not something we are too concerned about; we just have to work on getting some more clean sheets, which would be a good starting point.”