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Crawley Town are looking to book themselves in the third round of the FA Cup when they face Lincoln City at the Broadfield Stadium on Saturday – and one man who knows how special the third round can be is Rob Elliot.
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The former Charlton keeper never progressed too far in the FA Cup as a player but in 2011 – the year Crawley got to the fifth round where they played Manchester United at Old Trafford – his side got a plum third round draw.
In League One at the time, the Addicks drew Tottenham Hotspur away. The game ended 3-0 to the home side, with Jermain Defoe scoring two and Andros Townsend getting the other. The Spurs side that day had a host of big names playing including Luka Modric, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Niko Kranjčar and Michael Dawson.
And it’s still a special match for Elliot, who was 24 at the time. He said: “I never got too far down the line in the competition, but I remember when I was at Charlton and we were in League One and we drew Spurs away in the third round and I got to play against Luka Modric and Jermaine Defoe.
"I can't remember exactly, but all these top superstars. When you're a young player making your way through the lower leagues, it's a great opportunity to test yourself against the very best. I was pleased with my performance that day and it probably gave me a little bit of belief and hope that I could get to the Premier League if I kept working hard and I kept improving.”
And Elliot did go on to play in the Premier League – and Europa League – with Newcastle United. The 38-year-old still believes the FA Cup is a special competition for clubs and players.
"The FA Cup is a great occasion for that in terms of if you do ever play against higher or lower opposition, you can really show where you're at as an individual,” he said.
"It’s a competition that I really enjoy. I think the best thing about it is it's a bit of a release from the league, but it's about winning the game, isn't it, ultimately? I think for us and the way we do things, we want to keep the performances and the continuation of how we play because for us to continue doing well and progressing and climbing up the league table, we need to be consistent in our performances and we need to make sure that we have that solid base and it's the togetherness that will keep us in this league and keep us improving.
"Saturday is something I'm looking forward to, especially against such a good team. It's going to be a really tough test.”