Sean Rigg admits he owes a lot to boyhood club Forest Green - but it is not going to stop him going all out to ruin their FA Cup dreams.
The AFC Wimbledon winger-cum-striker cut his footballing teeth with the Rovers, before spending a further loan spell with them in 2009.
Such was the bond formed Rigg admits he still looks out for the results of the Conference National leaders from the New Lawn.
Such affections will be laid aside however at 3pm on Saturday when Rovers rock up to Kingsmeadow with a place in the FA Cup second round at stake.
"It is a funny one because obviously you still root for your old clubs and I really enjoyed it there.
"It is around the corner from where I used to live and grew up, so I do love the club.
"So it will be weird, but my intentions are to win, so I'll have to put all that to the back of my mind - there's no room for sentiment."
Rigg was spotted by Rovers while playing park football for Charfield near his home in Wooton-Under-Edge back in 2003.
So taken were they with the then 14-year-old they signed him immediately and he soon excelled, scoring a number of goals for the club's U18s.
A contract was soon on the table, but having also trained at the Bristol Academy of Sport, Rigg spurned their advances when Bristol Rovers came calling.
Things initially went well at the Memorial Ground, but when he fell out of favour it was Forest Green who took him in for a loan spell which the now 27-year-old admits changed the course of his footballing journey.
He is grateful to them for getting his mojo back.
"Things did not go so well the last couple of years at Bristol and I had not been playing much, so Forest Green taking me on loan was important.
"I scored six goals about two months which got me my move to Port Vale and started me back into league football."
There are few if any survivors of that spell six years ago for Rigg to come face-to-face with on Saturday, but he has continued to watch from afar as Rovers have mounted a concerted challenge to reach the Football League this season.
They will arrive bang in form, but even so Rigg knows his side face being cast in the role of favourites - something of a novelty for a team whose last game in the famous old trophy last season was at home to Premiership giants Liverpool.
In pictures: AFC Wimbledon's FA Cup tie with Liverpool
"It will be weird being favourites," he conceded, "and the FA Cup is a funny one where you get a few bigger teams that slip up. Sometimes you have to graft out results against teams in leagues below you who can still give you a good game like we gave Liverpool last year.
"But we have picked up good momentum in the last few weeks. The two away wins at Accrington and York got us back on track and brought our confidence up."
All that remains for Rigg to be part of Saturday's reunion is for him to shake off the effects of the dead leg sustained in the win at York and which kept him out of Saturday's victory over Hartlepool.
"The Hartlepool game was a bit too soon because the injury was still tender to touch and if I'd got another knock on it then it would have set me back, he added.
"Hopefully, I'll train well this week as I really want to play on Saturday."
