Ryan Nelsen is hoping he can finally reach an FA Cup final with his new club having twice suffered semi-final heartache.
New Tottenham defender thinks side can go all the way
Ryan Nelsen is hoping he can finally reach an FA Cup final with his new club having twice suffered semi-final heartache.
The defender moved to Spurs on a free transfer after being released from his contract on deadline day, bringing to an end a seven-year stint at Blackburn Rovers.
During his time at Ewood Park, Nelsen reached two FA Cup semi-finals - one in 2005 when Rovers lost 3-0 to Arsenal, and another two years later when they were defeated 2-1 by Chelsea after extra-time.
The New Zealander made his Spurs debut in the 5-0 demolition of Newcastle last weekend, coming off the bench for the final 15 minutes and could make his first start for his new side against Stevenage on Sunday.
"I've been to three semi-finals, two of them in the FA Cup, so it would obviously be nice to push on," said Nelsen, who also experienced semi-final heartbreak in the Carling Cup in 2010.
Unfinished business
"I've had a bit of a taste of it and have come so close to getting to a final so I feel I've got a bit of unfinished business with the competition."
Whilst Nelsen feels his new side have the quality to go all the way and lift the trophy at Wembley, he knows that Sunday's clash will be difficult with the League One side out to cause an upset.
He added: "This squad is good enough to go on and win it, and I know it's a priority here. But we'll be taking this game seriously because it's going to be a very awkward one.
Upset
"It's easy to look at it like we are favourites (to win the competition) on paper but the FA Cup is never like that.
"There's always banana skins. They're very difficult games and if you don't get the mental side of it right, it can come back and haunt you, hurt you.
"We've all witnessed it in the past so we'll just take it one game at a time. Hopefully we'll be all right for Stevenage. We definitely won't take it lightly.
"They beat Newcastle (in the third round last season). They'll be a hard team to beat."
