Cheltenham Town defender Curtis Davies has expressed that he is a “massive advocate for this competition” ahead of his side’s first round FA Cup clash with AFC Wimbledon.
“First and foremost, growing up as a kid in England, I always played ‘Wembley’ in the playground with my mates.
“I always pretended to be Eric Cantona, scoring the winning goal against Liverpool in the 1996 FA Cup final, so it was always a big thing for me.”
Davies, who recently became a Sierra Leone international at the age of 38, has had lots of success in this competition, most notably making it to and scoring in the final for Hull City.
In the end, they did end up losing to Arsenal in extra time despite being 2-0 up after less than 10 minutes, but it’s a remarkable achievement and one that the defender is beyond proud of.
On his passion for the FA Cup, Davies said: “I’ve naturally got the passion.
“The importance of the FA cup when I was a kid was massive. Now, because we get every bit of coverage from all these other leagues all over the world, we get obviously all the champions league, all the europa league, every game is on tv, and sometimes the FA cup seems quite miniscule.
“Obviously I was proud enough to get to a final and nearly get to lifting it, but it still holds a massive importance to my career.”
The oldest cup competition in the world has its benefits for both the club and the players, especially the further you progress.
On these benefits, Davies said: “It’s a massive thing. Not only financially but as a player, the opportunity to play at these stages, to play against these top players, it’s a massive test.
“You want to hang on as long as possible, or you want that big team away from home, because it would be lucrative for the club first and foremost, but also as a player you may get to play at the likes of Anfield or Old Trafford.”
However, the current task at hand is beating League Two side AFC Wimbledon, which will certainly be a tough test for Cheltenham, and Davies knows this.
“If you look at the two sides this season, there’s probably not much between us. Obviously we’ve picked up recently and they’ve maybe had a little bit of a lull recently with their form. It’s a cup tie so everything kind of goes out the window in cup games.
“They might make several changes, we might make several changes. We don’t quite know what’s gonna happen, but ultimately you want to have eleven players out there who want to go and win a game of football and get to the next round, and I believe we have that in this changing room.”
‘Cupsets’ are what every football fan hopes for in the FA Cup, and whilst this isn’t necessarily a ‘David vs Goliath’ clash, Cheltenham Town will not want to bow out this early.
“It’s quite an evenly matched game, especially going down to their place. These teams were only playing against each other a couple of seasons ago” he said.
“The way you avoid becoming a ‘banana skin’ if you want to label it that is by doing your jobs, listening to the manager and making sure you’re doing the set pieces right because particularly in lower level football, set pieces are integral.
“I think it’s just about game management, making sure you do the right things and getting yourselves in that hat for the next round.”
Of course, Davies has played at the highest level, but for some of his team-mates, a cup run could end up leading to them playing some of the biggest games of their career.
“It can put you on the map as a player. As a Cheltenham Town player if you go and have a decent game against a Chelsea or a Tottenham or a Liverpool in the third round, all of a sudden people will be talking about you saying, what about the game he had against so and so.
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“I’ll be making sure before the game that they know the importance of it and what it can mean to not only the club but yourselves as individuals.”
