HE WAS forced to sleep in the Peterborough dressing room as a 14-year-old – but tomorrow (Sat) Simon Davies is out to make sure his old side don’t catch Fulham dozing in the FA Cup.
For all that, the Whites midfielder admits he will take a humbling in the world’s most famous domestic trophy if it ensures Premiership survival.
Davies sadly came to the conclusion this week that coming down the Wembley stairs a winner will mean nothing if Fulham are relegated from the top flight.
But after his rocket in Tuesday's 3-0 win over West Brom, the 31-year-old is adamant his team has turned the corner – provided they don’t become a giant killed by the club it took a teenage Davies eight hours by train to reach.
He said: "We’re taking nothing for granted, but we’ve played well in the last three games and my goal helped us settle down against West Brom just when we needed it.
"But I wouldn’t want to go through the season before last again when we escaped on the final day.
"Every minute of ever day you were thinking about what might happen. And I’ve been to two cup finals and lost them both – so time is running out for me.
"And it would be immense to finally win a trophy, but sadly the prizes in the Premiership far outweigh the FA Cup."
Davies remembered back to a time when playing Premiership and international football was a childish fantasy after joining League One Posh and making solitary 16-hour round trips from home in Wales.
He said: "The youth staff at Peterborough would chuck a couple of air bags down in the dressing room for five or six of us. We’d get a bit of cereal on the Saturday morning and off we would go. I would normally get home on Sunday at midnight and be back at school the following day.
"But it was a good grounding. It made you appreciate the sacrifices needed to get where you wanted."
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