Exeter City: Man United shock did more than bring Ronaldo & Rooney to St James Park | OneFootball

Those at the top of the game have contrived to kill off the magic of the FA Cup but Exeter's draw with Man United truly was the stuff of dreams.

There can’t be too many club legends about who have never played for the club where they’re revered.

But we’ve got one of the all-timers at Exeter City and it’s the king Tony Cascarino who’s best known for his heroics in the 2004/05 FA Cup Third Round draw.

Tasked with pulling out the away teams on that day back in December 2004, Cas did more for a club he had probably barely thought about before in one rustle of the ball bag than he could ever imagine.

The former Republic of Ireland international timed his move to perfection. He waited for Manchester United to be drawn at home before striking, arriving late in the bag to pull out the No.64 and send the Grecians to Old Trafford.

He celebrated with a beaming smile, the reaction in the West Country was slightly less restrained, and there were famous pictures of then manager Alex Inglethorpe and director of football Steve Perryman leaping out of their armchairs as they watched that magic moment on the TV.

After years of struggle on and off the pitch, City’s immediate financial worries were over in the blink of an eye and around 9,000 Grecians were heading to a sold-out Theater of Dreams in a state of nervous delirium.

Only one thing really mattered. Win, lose or draw, we were going to have a club to support after all.

20 years since Exeter played Man Utd

In the end, it was nirvana for the Grecian faithful as Inglethorpe’s merry band of Conference battlers including the likes of Steve Flack, Sean Devine, the great Scott Hiley and a young Dean Moxey, held Manchester United to a miraculous 0-0 draw on a dark, freezing-cold day to set up a money-spinning replay back in Devon.

Gerard Pique, Tim Howard and Phil Neville all started for the hosts with Paul Scholes, Alan Smith and Cristiano Ronaldo coming off the bench to try and avoid the Alex Ferguson hairdryer treatment, with Paul Scholes going closest to winning it with a trademark strike from the edge of the box.

It was wild scenes in the away end at the final whistle and the scramble for tickets soon began. The BBC also picked the replay for live TV coverage, righting the obvious wrong of the original tie.

Fergie rolled out the big boys for the replay with Ronaldo joined by Wayne Rooney up front and Scholes got the nod alongside Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville.

In terms of highlights, Ronaldo getting nutmegged by a 36-year-old Hiley is right up there, as is a goal-bound Rooney shot stopping in a puddle in the goalmouth.

Oh, and United won 2-0 thanks to a goal each from Rooney and Ronaldo.

Man Utd FA Cup ties saved Exeter

While the fixture was, at best, an annoyance for the Red Devils it meant everything to Exeter.

It meant survival, hope and two amazing days out. It also cemented a lifetime of supporting the City for a new generation.

Younger fans had known nothing other than failure, with two relegations in the book since the club’s last promotion 15 years previous and a high of 12th in Division Four since the last demotion, a spell which included reapplication to stay in the Football League in 1994/95.

Truly bleak stuff. But since Cascarino did his thing it’s been a steady stream of gradual improvements for the club under supporter ownership.

Money talks in football and it’s no surprise that City finally broke their Conference curse of missing out on the play-offs the season after those Manchester United matches following a frustrating run of finishing 6th, 6th, and 7th.

Those at the top of the game have schemed to kill off the magic of the cup, and we’ll never see a 36-year-old right back from the West Country patting a future five-time Ballon d’Or winner on the back after sticking one between his legs on a cold, dark night under the lights in January with a baying mob hoping for an upset as they wield tin-foil FA Cups again.

While it was a novelty to see Ferguson and his superstars down at St James Park 20 years ago, that draw marked the start of the modern era at Exeter City and, in effect, and helped safeguard the club we love then, now and into the future.