CUP FULL OF PROMISE FOR ROY

CRYSTAL PALACE manager Roy Hodgson insists the romance of the FA Cup is alive and well amid recent changes.

Hodgson accepts the competition is no longer the bee’s knees but believes it is still going in the right direction.

He said: “A Premier League team will probably still win it. So what’s wrong? I am old and remember the past but we must look forward.”

The former England boss (right) backs no replays after the fourth round and accepts it could cost him when Palace visit Doncaster today in what is being touted as a possible giant-killing.

He added: “Yes, we might suffer. But that is progress. So much in the FA Cup is going on. There are so many clubs throughout the nation playing the competition before we in the league know anything about it.

“We don’t take interest until the third round, so all those so-called lower teams are incredibly jubilant after hoping to play against a top side. We mustn’t dismiss that huge body of work just because, perhaps, sometimes in the third round a team might change a few players because they have an important midweek game – or a Champions League game coming up.

“My hope would be we continue to cherish the FA Cup, continue to value it and don’t make comparisons with other competitions. Let us enjoy them all without suggesting the FA

Cup is not what it used to be.”