Yeovil Town midfielder Charlie Cooper is looking to improve his own FA Cup record as he looks to help the Glovers progress to the fourth qualifying round when they take on Didcot Town this weekend.
The 26-year-old admits he does not have much history in the world’s greatest cup competition.
In 2017, he was part of the Forest Green Rovers side which took Exeter City to a second round replay and he made the first round of the competition with Woking when they lost 3-2 at higher division Gillingham in 2020, neither of which constitute a fairy tale.
Speaking ahead of the weekend’s third qualifying round tie at Huish Park, Cooper said: “There’s nothing that stands out, so hopefully this can be a season where we can kick on and get a big team in a later round.
“It’s massive to go as far as you can and getting to the First Round Proper when a few more teams come in is great and hopefully we can go further than that, but we just have to take each game as it comes.
“We will pay full respect to Didcot on Saturday and stay professional and try to get the job done.
“The club has great history in the Cup. There’s a long way to go before we get (to the stage where bigger teams come in) but we just have to take a game each come.”
He revealed that he had a friend in the Merthyr Town side which came from behind to beat Didcot 2-1 in the Southern League Premier South on Tuesday night, so has been told to expect “a tough game.”
Cooper concluded: “Hopefully we can be professional, do things right and progress in to the next round.”
The midfielder has picked up five yellow cards and one red – given for two bookings in the August Bank Holiday Monday defeat at Havant & Waterlooville – and admitted he is struggling to come to terms with new rules which have come in for officials this season.
Asked about how he was coping, he added: “I’m not liking it too much! You’ve got the added time and the one about communication with the referee I’m finding the one hard and I need to get better than that.
“The rules are getting taken too far now, you can’t even speak to a referee without it being a yellow card and you can’t even make a tackle without getting booked.
“This season the number of suspensions there will be, it’s getting a bit silly.”
Charlie – there’s no point in bucking against the rules. They’re the same for everyone and while passion is laudable we need eleven players on the pitch at the final whistle.