United defender Scott Laird says, despite the question marks which have been raised over how much the FA Cup is valued nowadays, he still feels it’s the best cup competition there is.
The Iron take on Southend United at Glanford Park on Saturday and Laird spoke of how the famous competition is something you dream of playing in as a child.“It’s a great competition. A lot’s been made over the past three or four years about how seriously people are taking it but, as a player personally, it’s the best cup competition in the world,” he told The Iron PlayerHD.
“You get to play against the unknown teams in the lower leagues in the early stages and then if you’re lucky enough to get further on, you can get some of the really big boys.
“It’s amazing, it’s something you dream of when you’re a kid, playing in the back garden scoring the winning goal in the FA Cup final.”
Laird made headlines in the last campaign, when he put Preston North End ahead against Manchester United, and it’s a moment which the full-back says is yet to hit him.
“It was awesome, to test yourself against teams of that quality was brilliant and for myself to get that goal, I don’t think it’s still hit me now,” he said.
“I don’t think it’ll hit me until I start telling my grandchildren about it. I still can’t get my head round it now, it was surreal really.”
Ahead of this weekend’s clash with the Shrimpers, Laird feels that United are in a much better place than they were when they took on Phil Brown’s side a month ago.
“It will be a tough encounter. They’re a very good League One side, they work hard, they can play good football,” he stated.
“But we went there a month or so ago now and we lost 2-1, and we weren’t playing as well as we have been, especially in the past month.
“I think they’ll see a whole new Scunthorpe United and a whole new set of players than they did when we went down to their place last month.”
Laird also spoke of how much the entire squad wants to go far into this year’s competition and he feels that the quality is there to do just that.
Having faced Premier League opposition on a number of occasions in the past, Laird stated that getting your name in the third round draw provides an enormous amount of motivation.
“We’ve talked about it already and we want to have a good go at it this year. I think with the players we have we can really have a good crack,” he insisted.
“That’s motivation in itself, knowing that you can win two games and you’re in the hat and the big boys are there.”
See much more from Scott Laird, Paddy Madden and Mark Robins on The Iron PlayerHD.
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