MORE than any other competition in football, the FA Cup is always there to highlight the individual.

Its one-off nature means one-off performances, with the list of heroes and villains etched deep into the game's history.

You only have to imagine Darran Rowbotham scoring for City against Norwich in front of a packed St James's Park in 1990 for an appropriate hero.

And you only have to move your memory on a minute later to Robert Fleck's equaliser — and subsequent crowd-mocking celebration — to think of a villain.

In that spirit, and in no particular order, I have tried to nominate just a few memorable performances from Exeter City's not always glorious, but forever entertaining, FA Cup past.

1 — Dean Moxey v Doncaster Rovers, second round, 2004/05.

Well it had to be didn't it? Local lad Deano netted an outrageous 50-yarder after coming on as a first half sub for the injured Kwame Ampadu to earn himself the player-of-the-round award.

The 2-1 win over Rovers also earned the Grecians a trip to Old Trafford and the rest, as they say while supping League One-funded champagne, is history.

2 — Martyn Rogers v Newcastle United, fifth round replay, 1980/81.

Rogers was so overcome after his left-foot volley helped City thump the Magpies 4-0 that he couldn't even drink a pint in celebration.

"I was so churned up by the emotion of the occasion my stomach was in knots," said Rogers, who won over previously indifferent sections of the Grecians support with his performance.

To make it even better for the right-back, City drew Spurs — the team he supports — in the quarter-finals.

3 — James 'Daisy' Bell v Weymouth, first qualifying round, 1908/09.

Bell signifies where it all began for City, grabbing the spirit of the FA Cup by it's oversized handles and waving it around manically in poor Weymouth's faces. Metaphorically, of course.

Daisy slammed home six goals as Exeter trounced the Terras 14-0 in the club's first ever cup appearance — and still their biggest ever win in the competition.

4 — Stuart Naylor and Jason Matthews v Everton, third round, 1999/2000.

Yes they do count as one person actually. Or they count as one incredible, unbeatable force anyway — at least in that remarkable third round tie with the Toffees.

The permanently knackered-looking Naylor had kept City in the game before half-time as Kevin Campbell and Franny Jeffers tore the hosts apart.

But a collision with Campbell saw Naylor taken off and replaced by rookie former Taunton Town stopper Matthews at the break.

The young keeper had the game of his life, carrying on where Naylor had left off, repelling everything thrown at him to keep the game goalless and earn the Grecians a lucrative replay.

5 — Dido v Sunderland, sixth round replay, 1930/31.

If anyone has earned legendary status in City's pantheon of FA Cup stars it is persistent percher Dido, the seagull which sat on the crossbar at one end of St James's Park and helped the club reach an unprecedented quarter-final with the North East giants.

The luck ran out against the Mackems as Exeter went down 4-2, but Dido lived long in the memory. So much so that, seven years later, City fans decided to stuff a 'descendant of Dido' and parade her on a pole before an FA Cup match against Preston.

6 — Andy Woodman v Colchester United, second round, 1994/95. Oh, okay. Perhaps not.

Whatever the outcome at Nuneaton Town this afternoon, the FA Cup will forever throw up its heroes and villains — and that is surely why we all love it.