"He came into the dressing room, shook all the players' hands and encouraged us to go out there and do our best," said the former Lincoln City player.
"Obviously, to have him in the dressing room before the game gave the lads a tremendous boost because Gerrard is a world class player.
"It was a nice touch because it showed that he cared and, hopefully, the team did the club proud with our performance.
"In the first half especially, I thought we were excellent and played some great football.
"But we let ourselves down a little bit in the second 45 minutes because we didn't keep the ball that well.
"To take a 3-0 lead into the next game is great and some people will think we've already won the trophy.
"But the manager, Steve Heighway, reminded us it is still only half-time in the tie and anything could happen in the second leg at Manchester City."