Herd will enjoy United challenge
Aldershot captain Ben Herd is hoping home advantage can play a huge part in helping his side upset the odds when they face Premier League champions Manchester United in the fourth round of the Carling Cup.
Herd moved to the Ebb Stadium from Shrewsbury in 2009 and will lead the League Two side out against the four-time League Cup winners. Even though a tie at Old Trafford would have been more financially beneficial, the 26-year-old is glad Sir Alex Ferguson's collection of international footballers have to travel to the 7,100 capacity stadium in Aldershot.
"It (the Ebb Stadium) might be a leveller for us but we will treat them with the utmost respect," said Herd. "Hopefully it is raining, it is cold and the floodlights are on the blink! Our fans will give them a hostile environment - we will have to see how they react to it, we play here every week but it is a different climate for them to play in."
He added: "It would have been the icing on the cake to have it at Old Trafford but you can't really grumble.
"When you get Manchester United in the cup you would take it wherever it is, you would take it down the park if you had to."
The former Watford youngster was also in a bullish mood when asked if he could lead the north Hampshire side to a famous victory:
He said: "Why not?" It is a 90 minute game and we have to respect Manchester United but anything can happen and the aim for us is to do as well as we can and see where it takes us."
Wins against West Ham, Rochdale and Carlisle in the earlier rounds gave Aldershot the chance to take on United and Herd has been anticipating coming up against the Red Devils since the draw, even though he admits he is unsure who he will be marking.
He said: "Whoever plays for Manchester United, whoever pulls the strip on is going to be world class really.
"Look at their last game against Leeds (in the third round) they had (Federico) Macheda, (Michael) Owen and (Dimitar) Berbatov so you have to respect whoever they put out - but it is an opportunity for us guys to test ourselves and pit our wits against them."
