James Meredith’s most vivid FA Cup memory as a young lad growing up in Australia was Manchester United’s final win over Newcastle in 1999.

United famously won an unprecedented treble that year and Meredith became hooked on the Red Devils.

“The FA Cup is such a famous competition because of the history and tradition surrounding it,” said the City leftback, who began life as a country boy in Albury before moving to Melbourne at the age of seven.

“I grew up on farmland and then we moved to Melbourne when my dad got a job in the city.

“My family are into rugby league but it was always football for me.

“Being Australian, Harry Kewell was always a big idol of mine and I also looked up to Tim Cahill and Lucas Neill.

“I was a big fan of Roy Keane too because of the fire he played with.

“The FA Cup finals were always exciting to watch, especially when Man United won the treble. That was my favourite memory and I’ve supported them ever since.

“I’ve since played in the FA Cup down the years and it has always been a special occasion, especially coming from the lower leagues when you get to play against the bigger teams.”

After beginning his career in England at Derby County, Meredith had stints with Chesterfield, Shrewsbury, Telford and York.

He then pitched up at Valley Parade on a free transfer in the summer of 2012 and enjoyed an outstanding campaign last term as City twice reached Wembley and won promotion.

He missed the infamous incident which saw Rotherham boss Steve Evans, then in charge of Crawley, at the centre of a stormy contest at Valley Parade which led to five players being sent off in March 2012.

Meredith, speaking yesterday at the club’s training headquarters at Woodhouse Grove, said: “I wasn’t at the club the season when it all properly kicked off.

“But I was here last season when we played Rotherham and I know that it was very tense, quite heated, and you had to be on your toes and get in the mixer.

“Both managers seem pretty passionate about this rivalry.”

Meredith was in the City side stuffed 4-0 at the New York Stadium last season.

The 25-year-old Aussie remembered: “They scored some great goals that day and you can’t take that away from them.

“We’ll have our own game-plan and will just go out there and do our best. Hopefully we can go there and get a good away win.”

The onus is on City to produce a big performance after a poor run of five matches without a win.

The sequence has not proved particularly damaging to their position in the table: City lie in the sixth and final play-off spot.

But Meredith admitted: “Would people take that at the start of the season?

“Yes, they probably would, but it’s still a bit disappointing for us as players, and certainly the staff, because we’ve got high standards.

“All teams have little poor patches and this seems to be ours in the last five games.

“We’ve had a few injuries but we’ve got Nahki (Wells) back now and hopefully we can build on the display at Crewe last weekend.

“We want to push on and create a gap between ourselves and seventh place.

“Essentially we are aiming to consolidate our position in the play-offs but the priority this weekend is beating Rotherham in the FA Cup.”