THE FA Cup once meant a great deal to Blackburn Rovers.

As something that pre-dates league football, in the early days it was seen as the premier competition and our six trophy wins still makes us one of the most successful clubs in British history.

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Sadly times have changed and with playing in the top flight now so lucrative and with football more a business than a sport, it is easy to see why the league is prioritised.

But once in a while, we get a reminder of how magic the FA Cup is, pitting the big against the small and giving them a level playing field for 90 minutes.

So well done Bradford and well done Middlesbrough.

What performances they were to knock out two sides with vastly superior squad values and wage bills.

And it is performances like those that make it all the more worthwhile Rovers staying in the competition.

Our win over Swansea was very pleasing, but not in the same league as Bradford overturning a two-goal deficit at Chelsea or Cambridge holding Manchester United to a goalless draw.

Yet the Welsh BBC (yes, I too chose not to fork out 20 quid to watch the game on Saturday) made it sound like a David v Goliath giant-killing that will go down in history - perhaps it will in the Valleys.

It is thanks to the heroics of those true giant-killers that Rovers have an outside shot at some real silverware this season.

It is nice to go on a cup run so hopefully we can rekindle some of that FA Cup spirit our forebears once harnessed.

That said, the win will hopefully help us to get our league season back on track.

Tonight’s trip to Derby will be a really tough ask but if we can take some momentum from the cup win then maybe we can spring another surprise.

Realistically our hopes of clawing back the 11-point gap between ourselves and the play-offs are dwindling, but now would be the time to turn our league form around and, to use one of the manager’s favourite quotes (after he tried to steal mine in a national paper at the weekend), ‘have a real good go at it’.