It was mainly all good for the Swansea City capytain last term as his side romped to the League One title with a club record number of points. But Monk still remembers last season’s FA Cup nightmare when they were denied a trip to Anfield by Havant and Waterlooville who defeated the Swans at this stage after a replay.
And with Histon waiting in the wings as the Swans opponents tomorrow, Monk is keen to ensure there is no repeat as they look to end a run of eight successive draws by progressing to the fourth round of the competition.
“Havant & Waterlooville was a nightmare for us last season,” Monk told the Western Mail.
“Avoiding a repeat of that is a big motivation for us.
“In the end it might have been a good thing because it gave us a big catapult in the league after that. But it still hurt all of us at the time.
“You get disappointments like that in football but we don’t want it two years running. So we will go down there with the right mentality to get the job done.
“Last year taught us how dangerous these teams can be. But we just weren’t at the races for the replay and it was one of those games that’s just a blur really.
“It was all a bit bizarre. But it was just a one-off, freak game and we just need to use it as motivation when we go to Histon.
“As much as they are living the FA Cup dream, so are we
“We saw their reaction to the draw on TV and they were disappointed not to get one of the big boys… but we felt exactly the same.
“All footballers have dreams and this is the sort of thing you play for.
“My first memories of football are the FA Cup so I want to do as well as I can in it, and I know all the boys feel exactly the same.
“The fact they have already beaten Leeds tells you what they are capable of,” he said. “Robbo said they were very well-organised, they played for set-pieces and they can be dangerous with them.
“Add the condition of the pitch to that and any bad weather and it won’t be an easy afternoon.
“But we are the professional side and it’s our job to deal with that.
“The good thing from our point of view is that we can use last year’s experience, playing against three non-league sides, against them
“We know what to expect from these teams and we know what we have to do to deal with it.
“The crowd will be right on top of us and in our face again and the pitch won’t be the best.
“But it’s all stuff we are used to from last year and, so long as we have the right attitude, it shouldn’t stop us getting the result we want.”