Leicester beat Gillingham in the FA Cup third round and the rest of the results

 Leicester beat Gillingham in the FA Cup third round and the rest of the results.

The FA Cup third round normally starts its journey in the picturesque surroundings of  Middle England where the hanging flower baskets at remote country railway stations seem a million miles away from the industrial heartlands of where it all started over 150 years ago. On Friday Manchester United narrowly beat their Premier League counterparts Everton in the opening exchanges of this year's competition.

They did so because Marcus Rashford, the man who had scored such an outstanding free kick for England against Wales in their World Cup qualifying group in Qatar, terrorised a terrified Everton defence and set up the assist for the own goal that sealed a highly impressive victory for United. They now promptly move into the next round of the FA Cup. Then the FA Cup cranked up its engine for another road trip to chocolate box Kent, the Garden of England where nothing out of the ordinary was expected and this became a self fulfilling prophecy.

Yesterday the good, fine and upstanding citizens of Gillingham put out all of their bunting, adjusted the traditional rosettes and banners in their shop windows, wrapped their scarves around their necks, allowed themselves a moment or two of delusional day dreaming and then woke up again. You can say what you like about the FA Cup but magicians do perform the most astonishing tricks and maybe just maybe this rabbit would jump out of the hat. But not yesterday though. This was one of those FA Cup third round ties that conformed to the norm and nothing even remotely outrageous happened. Gillingham were good and adequate for a while but not for long alas. The Premier League had the last word and that was final.

In fact Gillingham are rock bottom of the Football League and have the most appalling statistics to back it up. You can only assume that their defending is dreadful, perhaps barely evident to the naked eye, their midfield must be a haphazard jumble of young players simply cobbled together to make up the numbers and their strikers - cum wingers were yet to be introduced to each other. But then you realised why this was more or less a desperate mismatch. Leicester must have treated this Cup tie rather like tourists on a leisurely day out in a Saturday market town, knowing where the bargains were and capitalising on their opponents generosity.

Away in one corner the Brian Moore stand, named after the legendary TV football commentator, Gillingham's enthusiastic fans were huddled together in hope rather any lofty ambition. They kept up their defiant cheering, perhaps resigned to their fate more than anything else. In the game's opening stages it did look like the blue shirts were gelling quite effectively, settling down for a comfortable lunchtime of watching the world go by. Gillingham knew their station in life and this was not to be their afternoon.

It would become patently apparent from early on that the gentle and genteel folk from Gillingham would not be destined to earn any of the lucrative riches on offer as a result of a victory over Leicester City. The collective of Robbie Mckenzie, Max Ehmer, William Wright and Cheye Alexander strove mightily to force the issue and intermittently broke the well ordered lines that Leicester had laid down for them. But then David Tutonda and Alex Macdonald began to huff and puff in laborious fashion and the contest was not so much over but simply a figment of Gillingham's imagination. When Shaun Williams, Dom Jefferies, Hakeeb Adelakun and Scott Kashket began to look a threatening force up front, the attacks fizzled out into obscurity.

Slowly but surely the vastly more experienced Premier League club began to exert their dominance on the proceedings. It is hard to believe now that Leicester were Premier League champions several seasons ago and of course won the FA Cup three years ago for the first time in their history. Their football is still easy and pleasing to the eye, captivating at times but there is a sense here that their manager Brendan Rogers has taken them as far as he can. At times their football is indeed as sweet as sugar but then it occurs to you that striker Jamie Vardy is now almost 30 plus and there is something rickety and creaking about Leicester that may just give way if the goals dry up.

Now that Riyad Mahrez, their hugely and gloriously influential is now picking up Premier League titles with Manchester City for fun, the midfield engine room is spluttering, the machinery malfunctioning  and it all looks as if Leicester may have had their one moment in the sun. At the moment the team who play at the King Power Stadium are beginning to look like the team who used to play at Filbert Street. Still, after a session of trampolining between the top flight and the second tier, Leicester do look stable and cohesive. And yet mid table security seems perhaps their only realistic ambition.

A less celebrated Leicester took to the Priestfield with every confidence and purpose in their hearts while never underestimating their League two opponents. Jannik Vestergaard, Caglar Soyuncu, Kasey McAteer and the ever dependable Marc Allbrighton joined forces skilfully and efficiently in midfield with pedantically precise passing to feet while further forward Nampalys Mendy, the cultured Youri Tielemans and Ayoze Perez  was nimble and quick witted up front. Occasionally though Perez did flatter to deceive though although his direct running and speed of thought had much to commend it.

Finally though Leicester found a vital chink in the Gillingham defensive armour. There was something leaking in their porous back four and the visitors toppled over the Kent team's last line of resistance. From one of many sustained breaks into the Gillingham half, the ball settled at Leicester feet. Lewis Brunt, one of a clutch of ambitious youngsters at Leicester, flashed the ball across the Gillingham six yard box and eventually the ball bobbled kindly for Kelechi Iheanacho who slammed the ball low and hard into the net.

So the pretty garden of Kent will now revert to tending their lovingly preserved allotment sites. Gillingham will return to their painful relegation struggles at the bottom of the League and Leicester will attempt to climb the heady heights of the FA Cup mountain top. The FA Cup, in all its endearing innocence, had opened its often stark class divisions once again and Leicester will be grateful for what they have. We do salute Gillingham though.