Davey puts league to one side April 04 2008
Barnsley manager Simon Davey has ordered his players to savour Sunday's FA Cup semi-final against Cardiff and forget about the possibility of slipping deeper in the Championship relegation mire.
The Tykes may have memorably ousted holders Chelsea and Liverpool from this year's competition to reach the last four, but they have been unable to replicate their cup heroics on a regular basis in the league.
In fact, Davey's side could find themselves unceremoniously dumped into the bottom three ahead of the club's biggest game in nearly a century, if fellow strugglers Southampton can take anything from their game with Bristol City on Saturday.
But the mood at Oakwell is understandably buoyant as memories of the 2-1 victory at Anfield in February and the 1-0 success over the Blues last month are still fresh in the mind.
Davey, for this week at least, is putting the league to one side to focus fully on striving to win the FA Cup for the first time since the club's one and only success back in 1912.
"I'm going to enjoy it," he enthused. "We are going to forget the league.
"For the last four weeks I've been asked questions about the FA Cup when we had the league to concentrate on and, now we're in the FA Cup, I'm being asked about the league.
"So we are forgetting about the league and having a week to concentrate on the FA Cup - and we are going to enjoy it!"
After belying their lowly status and producing stirring displays to deservedly beat two Premier League giants, the Yorkshire outfit now face a Cardiff team they have beaten just once in their last six encounters.
Davey insists the Bluebirds - currently 10 points above his team in the Championship - go into Sunday's game as favourites and is more than happy for his side to once again be billed as underdogs.
Nevertheless the 37-year-old, who started his playing career with Cardiff's bitter rivals Swansea, is confident the "no fear" attitude which has helped forge a fairytale run in the FA Cup will again be evident this weekend.
"It'll be a different game to what we've been used to in the FA Cup so far this season," said Davey. "It'll be more like a Championship game and they'll be favourites.
"It's not going to be an easy game but the big factor for me is that we are still underdogs. We go to Wembley as underdogs and hopefully my players will relish that challenge.
"But we are not going down to make up the numbers. We want to win and we've got the added incentive of being 90 minutes away from an FA Cup final.
"For our players to play at Wembley in this type of game is a fantastic achievement and as I've said before we have no fear in the dressing room.
"This is a massive game for everyone concerned with the club and we want to make it a day to remember."
Preparations for the Wembley showpiece have been disrupted with the news defender Stephen Foster - who Davey has labelled "probably one of our most consistent players all season" - is unlikely to play.
It was Foster's equaliser which paved the way for victory over the Reds in the fifth round, but the 27-year-old is nursing a bruised foot and facing a race against time to be passed fit to feature.
"At the moment it's very, very doubtful that he'll be in the side," confirmed Davey.
"We'll probably give Stephen up to the 11th hour to prove his fitness but I have to put a contingency plan in place because at the moment it doesn't look like he's going to play."