Whatever anyone says about the FA Cup, it still has a special place in the English sporting calendar.

It’s fourth-round weekend – starting with the wonderful match-up of Cambridge United at home to Manchester United on Friday night – and supporters up and down the country will be on the lookout for a giant-killing or two.

I remember from my playing days with Town scoring against Wolves in the third round at Molineux.

It was a far-post header, we drew 1-1 and then brought them back to Leeds Road, where we beat them 3-1 with a couple of goals from Mark Lillis and another from Daryl Pugh.

We were knocked out in the next round by Luton, but the memories of it all still linger all these years later.

It was the same when I was at Colchester. We were in the lower reaches of what is now League II but we went away to Shrewsbury, who were going well in the higher division at the time, and we won to earn a trip to Sheffield United, who were then flying high in what is now the Championship.

We were 3-0 up after 20 minutes but ended up drawing 3-3 – this was the United team with Brian Deane and Tony Agana.

In the replay, we lost 1-0, but it was still a great Cup run to be part of and it’s amazing how the FA Cup resonates with players.

It was disappointing for Town fans the other week that their team went out in the third round at home to Reading, because there is still a lot of magic attached to the competition, not to mention the potential finance if you progress.

Cambridge and Bradford City – who travel to Chelsea – certainly won’t need reminding of the Cup’s sparkle, and while no-one will be giving them a chance of getting through, you just never know where a giant-killing can occur.

If a big club takes their eye off the ball for even a second against a supposedly lower-ranked side, they can become vulnerable.

That’s what makes the FA Cup so special.