Cheltenham Town v Chester City
The FA Cup Third Round Proper
Whaddon Road
3pm, Saturday 7 January 2006
Winning clubs receive £40,000




Steve Guinan, a former winner of The FA Cup Player of the Round award, has spoken of the amazing feeling he gets from taking part in The FA Cup and hopes that this is not his last chance to make his mark on the Cup.

Speaking to TheFA.com Steve revealed that he thought his chance had gone to take part in the latter stages of the competition, but is now determined to enjoy every minute.

Steve said: "I am fortunate to play football for a living, but to play in The FA Cup is an absolute dream come true. You sometimes forget how lucky you are but I cherish every moment in this competition, because you might never get that chance again.

"I speak to people from abroad who are amazed by the tradition of the competition and they are fascinated by The FA Cup almost as much as we are in this country. You only have to look at how many countries televise the final to realise how big it is across the world."

Steve was voted as The FA Cup Player of the Round at the Fourth Qualifying Round stage two seasons ago after his hat-trick in Hereford United's 6-1 demolition of Harrow Borough. 

As a result Steve was invited to make the FA Cup Third Round draw live on TV with Ian Rush at FA HQ Cup.

All eleven Players of the Round from the 2003/04 were invited by The FA and Partners UMBRO as VIP guests at the Manchester United v Millwall FA Cup Final, but unfortunately Steve was unable to attend, as he was playing for the England National Game XI in the Highlands of Scotland.

Steve is now preparing for Chester: "It will be another tough game with Chester and we expect them to make it hard for us. We played them recently and even though we won, it was only after a late goal and it was difficult.

"They have been on a good run in the league, they are a full-blooded side and it will be a battle.

"To be absolutely honest we were a little dissapointed to draw Chester, no disrespect to them at all. I am sure the situation is the same for them, they will have wanted to draw one of the big sides just like we did.

"But it gives us an opportunity to get to the Fourth Round and if that happened there would be more chance of us getting one of the big boys. We know we probably won't win the cup, but we can enjoy it while we're in it."

To vote for your Player of the Round after this weekend's round of games be sure to come back to TheFA.com