Whether they want it to be or not, Aston Villa will be forever linked with Stevenage and the FA Cup - and manager Steve Evans wouldn't have it any other way.

Boro start their FA Cup journey on Saturday at home to Tranmere Rovers with memories of that famous Sunday evening at Villa Park still very fresh in the memory.

And the Boro boss wanting days like that to happen again and again is the reason he won't take Tranmere for granted.

He said: "It doesn't get mentioned at all when you're when you're in the hub of the league fixtures but when people talk about special days [it does because] those memories are special. 

"I still get it when I go into town, grown men who are born and bred Stevenage fans almost in tears when they speak about the day at Villa Park. 

"That for me means the world. 

"I was five years old, so a very wee boy, when Celtic won the European Cup, the first British club to win the Champions League you know, and when you go back to Glasgow now, half of Glasgow still talk about it as if it was last week. 

"Those memories are cherished and passed down from generation to generation. 

"And I can tell you something, 30 to 40 years from now, all those young men and women who came to see us will be dads and mums and grandparents and they'll be telling their grandkids about the day at Villa Park. 

"What we want to do is go even better than that. We want to talk about another Premier League scalp but you don't get the chance of that unless you deal with Tranmere and whoever appears in the next round. 

"Then you may get a chance like we did last year. 

"We had a tough time in the first half at King’s Lynn, perhaps should have been behind, and we had a real tough time at Gateshead when Jordan Roberts went ‘boo-boo’ and got sent off. 

"We had to dig in and in fact someone we’ll see on Saturday, Luke Norris, scored a great goal to kill the tie. 

"They put us through and earned the right to play Villa. 

"In the FA Cup it's very much about dealing with what’s in front of you and then you hope when you get to that stage when the big boys are in, you hope the draw is kind to you. 

"But it's a day that everyone who's involved with Stevenage, from the most important people, the supporters, to me and the chairman or the players, everyone will simply remember it for the rest of their life. 

"If you’re Dean Campbell, you’ll be telling your grandkids about it, replaying it over and over again. 

"And so he should do and so should every player who played a part."