FRANK Gray says he will put old friendships behind him for 90 minutes when he returns to former club Farnborough.

The Basingstoke Town boss enjoyed a successful spell at Cherrywood Road six years ago, leading Farnborough to third place and a spot in the Conference South play-offs at the end of the 2005-06 season.

Gray is still held in high regard at Farnborough and always gets a warm reception from the supporters – but he insists that winning with Town will be the only thing on his mind when the game begins on Saturday (kick-off 3pm).

“It’s a good club and we enjoyed our time there,” Gray said. “We made some good friends and it is always nice to go back and see them – but we will not be thinking about that on Saturday, just focusing on three points.”

Basingstoke will be without Wes Daly for the next two games after the midfielder amassed 10 yellow cards, while forward David Pratt will miss three matches after being sent off against Weston-super-Mare. Gray is hoping to sign a front player on loan from another Blue Square Bet South club to make up for the loss of Pratt, while the absence of Daly will give other midfielders a chance to shine.

“It could be an opportunity for Jide Ogunbote and Simon Dunn,” the Town boss added. “Jide has done well when he has come in and Simon Dunn has always impressed coming on. We’ll have a look at it later in the week and make our mind up which one we go with – but both of them are ready and hoping for a chance to play.”

Matt Warner remains in America on business, while Adam Mekki has been recalled by parent club Aldershot. There is also a big doubt over striker Tim Sills, who limped out of the win over Eastleigh with a knee injury, while centre-back Ross Adams will remain out for several more weeks as he recovers from a broken leg.

Saturday’s 1-0 win over Hampshire rivals Eastleigh was only Town’s second win in eight games but it put them back into the play-off picture – and Gray wants his side to produce a similar performance this week.

“The main thing for us is to build on the win and performance against Eastleigh,” he said. “It was a good workman-like performance with some good football in there too and to do well we have got to do that in every game.

“Last week we made it clear that the most important game of the season was the one against Eastleigh. Now it is Farnborough and we have got to look at every game like that.”

Town won a thriller 4-3 when the sides met at The Camrose back in September and Farnborough are struggling at the wrong end of the table, just four points above the relegation zone. They have lost four of their last five but beat Boreham Wood 3-0 in their last home game, meaning they cannot be taken lightly.

“They’ll be scrapping and battling for every point so it will be tough,” Gray said. “It’s important we set our stall out, play the way we want to play and do what we can to get three points.”