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The Shouting Men Column with Gillingham captain Gabriel Zakuani

Anything can happen in the FA Cup and it’s a competition that propelled me to a new level.

I have played against a lot of big clubs, in some important games, but the biggest in terms of my career came in the FA Cup in January 2006.

While playing for Leyton Orient, then in League 2, we beat Fulham, who were in what was the Premier League at the time. It was a game that basically changed my career.

Gillingham defender Gabriel Zakuani Picture: Ady Kerry
Gillingham defender Gabriel Zakuani Picture: Ady Kerry

It got me in the spotlight and I ended up playing most of my career in the Championship because of it. It gave me the chance to go and play for big clubs, like Fulham and Stoke.

I had been doing consistently well at Orient but we were up against a Fulham side who had the likes of Collins John, who was scoring goals in the top flight, and Luis Boa Morte. They were big players and I marked them quite comfortably on the day.

Fulham had their eyes on me from then on and we had Charlton in the next round, who were also in the Premier League. I marked Darren Bent out of the game!

Before those games we had played Wycombe on Sky TV, we lost 4-2 and I scored an own goal. These things happen, that is the chalk and cheese, you can have a great game and then a bad one, but you have to keep going and that is the message to our players.

I knew I was being scouted but being a youngster at the time, you have no fear, you want to prove you are as good as these players. I was 19 at the time and the Fulham match was one of those games I wanted to show I was good enough to be playing at that level.

You don’t get the chance to play against elite players very often and it gives you that incentive. I thrived off it, rather than worried about it.

Some people say the magic of the FA Cup is dying but it is never dying for us, especially for the teams that are playing lower leagues.

It doesn’t die because you always know that anything can happen, literally, in one game. You have to cherish those games as a footballer.

I have had the ups and downs, I have been knocked out by the minnows and I have borne the fruits of it by getting a move from Leyton Orient to Fulham.

Gillingham captain Gabriel Zakuani in action Picture: Ady Kerry
Gillingham captain Gabriel Zakuani in action Picture: Ady Kerry

The move eventually happened in the summer but it was dragging on a bit. There were other clubs interested, Charlton and Reading, but Fulham outbid everyone else. It was crazy money at the time.

The longer it went on, the more money was being given. It started at half a million but Barry Hearn (the then-Orient chairman) was a shrewd businessman and he held out. He was thinking surely they wouldn’t bid a million, but they did in the end. It was ridiculous.

I had been on my way to pre-season training at Orient and my agent called and said, ‘turn around, head to Fulham’. I was buzzing.

It was a whirlwind at the time. One minute you are on peanuts, compared to the top-level players, and then your life is changed instantly.

You go to Fulham and see players you have only seen on television and when I turned up Jimmy Bullard was there signing on the same day. I was like, ‘oh my god’, it was mad. He was talking straight away like he had known me my whole life. We were there doing the medical and he’s having a go at my boxers! I couldn’t believe how life had changed within a day, really.

The cup has been a good competition for me and we have got young players here at Gillingham who should look for those kind of opportunities, do well and make a name for themselves.

Read the full column, including Gaby's quickfire Q&A, in this week's Medway Messenger newspaper

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