INSIDE FOOTBALL WITH: Danny Webber - FA Cup memories ride high as dream begins for Salford City

Danny Webber relives some FA Cup memories after his team, Salford City, drew Notts County for their first ever game in the first round proper.

I stood close to my former assistant manager Stuart McCall for Monday’s FA Cup first round draw in Bradford. It was live on BBC2 and I said: “Don’t give us a dud team.” ‘Us’ are Salford City.

Stuart pulled out the ball which meant we’ll play Notts County. We’re all happy with that, with players like Alan Smith and Roy Carroll coming to Moor Lane. They’re in a dogfight in League Two, but they’re all full-time, they’ll be well organised.

In my last column, I said that I was hopeful Salford City could stay in the FA Cup. We did that by beating Bradford Park Avenue, then Southport on Saturday. That got me the invite to an FA Cup draw for the first time.

I’ve actually got a FA Cup runners-up medal from my time at Portsmouth. I didn’t play in the final as I’d ruptured my cruciate ligament, but I played in every game up to the sixth round. I didn’t think that I deserved the medal at the time because I didn’t set foot on the Wembley turf, but I’ve changed my mind.

I was invited to the draw along with James Poole, my Salford team-mate who chipped Southport’s ’keeper from 40 yards on Saturday to send Salford through to the FA Cup first round proper for the first time ever.

Let’s hope James Poole can get another wonder goal. He was a youngster in the same year as Daniel Sturridge at Man City. He had spells at Bury, Hartlepool and was at Dover last season. You can see that he knows his way around the block by his technical level. He still scouts for City and his goal was superb.

Southport are two divisions above us and brought around 500 fans to Salford – half the crowd. It was a big test for the players and the managers who are used to managing against teams who play in a largely full-time league.

Not only did we win against Southport, but we beat them well. Everyone was buzzing. Gary Neville, one of the owners, came in the dressing room after the game. You could see what it meant to him and a few of the newer players who’ve not met him were buzzing off meeting him.

Gary, Scholesy, Ryan (Giggs), Nicky (Butt) and Phil (Neville) keep a distance from the player and managers. They watch games standing on the other side of the pitch from the only seated stand at Salford, their only luxury is a white barrier to lean on.

At least one of them will be there for every game and the players know where they stand. You don’t have time to worry about what they’re thinking during the match, but they’ve achieved loads in little over 12 months.

We won promotion last season and we’re well placed this term. We’ve won our last 18 away games, an incredible run, though that was put at risk at Colwyn Bay in Wales a few weeks ago when a closed motorway saw four of us stuck in traffic for two hours.

We’d arranged to meet the team bus and my car was ahead of the bus, but then we were caught up in the accident traffic and the team bus behind was able to divert and make the game. I learned on Twitter that I’d been made sub and I finally got to the ground at half-time. I was brought on the pitch with 20 minutes to play and managed to head the winner to make it 3-2. What a great feeling.

I’ve played in England’s top four divisions, but there’s a togetherness in this Salford dressing room that I’ve only experienced at Sheffield United in a promotion season, a winning mentality I’ve only experienced at Manchester United. That spirit wins you points over a season, you want to win for each other.

We’re not short of detractors, people who accuse us of only being at Salford for the money. They think we eat caviar before matches and travel to games in private planes. I’ve heard figures about what I’m supposed to earn which are so far off the mark it’s laughable.

They’re here for the same reason as me, because they believe in what the Class of ’92 lads are doing. Their drive and desire drew me in. I don’t regret that decision.

From the glamour of the FA Cup draw to a league game against Matlock Town on Tueday night. We’ll try and put the FA Cup talk to the back of our minds, that and a new documentary on BBC1 about Salford which starts this week, though one of us will have to go to the owners and ask them to get their cheque book out and treat the lads to a night out if we continue doing well in the FA Cup.