Hull City skipper Curtis Davies is ready to play ugly against Arsenal in Saturday's FA Cup Final, if it means he can emulate manager Steve Bruce and his other Manchester United heroes.
The centre-back was a youngster watching on TV when Bruce lead the side that dominated the competition in the mid-1990s and he is desperate to land himself a winners' medal like the ones his boss has from his illustrious playing days.
Davies realises Arsene Wenger's side are the favourites, with their top-four finishing the Premier League and their long list of international players, but he is hoping a blend of guts and hard work will give them a foundation for a famous upset.
Arsenal v Hull City
The FA Cup with Budweiser
The Final
5pm, Saturday 17 May 2014
Wembley connected by EE
Winners receive £1.8m
Runners-up receive £900,000
Live on ITV and BT Sport
He said: "As a Manchester United fan I remember their Finals.
"The 1994 Cup Final 4-0 win over Chelsea, then the year after that was the 1-0 loss to Everton and then the win against Liverpool in 1996.
"They are my highlights as a fan and I hope we can emulate the gaffer's success in '94 and '96 - we can forget about the '95 one.
"You have to try to treat this as another game. If you over-think it you might take away from the work you've done all season.
"It's about doing the work on the training ground. We have 22 players now that know what to do and we need to know our jobs and we hope we can do our jobs and beat Arsenal and cause an upset."
Davies and his team-mates have already given the city of Hull and all its fans plenty to smile about by achieving promotion to the Premier League and then consolidating their place in the top flight.
They will now feature in their first-ever FA Cup Final and the buzz among fans and local well-wishers alike has been overwhelming for the defender.
Davies added: "It had been over 80 years since the club reached a Semi-Final so it was massive.
"If I'm down the gym I have people coming up to me and people will wish me good luck, or ladies who aren't even football fans come up to me when I'm having a coffee to tell me they'll be at Wembley.
"There's a feel-good factor around the town. Getting to The Final is one thing but if we can win it then they'll be celebrating for years to come."
The win is all that Davies is focused on - the manner in which it comes about is secondary as he aims to stifle Arsenal's attacking talents and hit them on the break.
"I'm hoping from minute one we can show our quality and be dogged.
"We are not going to go toe-to-toe with Arsenal. We're not going to pretend but we know we are a good football club and if we can keep them quiet then when we get the ball hopefully we can cause them some problems.
"Sometimes you can play brilliantly and lose, or play poorly and win so if we can win then I wouldn't care how we win, as long as I can lift that Cup I will be delighted."
