In three seasons in a row, the powerful forward played in the Cup third round – for Yeovil against Liverpool in 2004, for Exeter against Manchester United in 2005, and for Tamworth against Stoke in 2006.

“It was a crazy run to play in the third round three times in a row,” said Edwards. “Playing Manchester United has to be the highlight of my career. I grew up as a boy in Manchester and it was always my dream to play at Old Trafford.

“Even when I lived in New Jersey, I was a United fan.

“To play them in the FA Cup in front of 67,500 people at Old Trafford and to come away with a draw was amazing.

“It was a wonderful experience.

“I was on the bench and I came on in the second half and I actually played in midfield which was a new experience for me. It was like being in the middle of the Red Arrows as they kept flying past but to go there and get a 0-0 was a huge thing.

“I remember warming up on the sidelines next to Paul Scholes and Ronaldo. I have never seen anybody’s feet move so quickly as Ronaldo’s – and that was just doing a few practice step-overs!

“When you play a team of that quality and you are the massive underdogs, you just want to give a good account of yourselves. We rolled our sleeves up and as the game went on we kept thinking we can do something special.

“Sir Alex [Ferguson] called Alex Inglethorpe, our manager, after the game and said they had been looking at the ProZone stats and nobody had come to Old Trafford and worked so hard. We covered more ground than any other team.”

Edwards still retains one priceless keepsake, having swopped shirts with Mikael Silvestre afterwards, but United – with their full galaxy of stars on show – ended the fairytale by winning the replay at Exeter’s St James’s Park 2-0.

Edwards admits this season has been a topsy-turvy affair.

It had threatened to be a Nightmare at Damson Park horror show rather than a dream scenario as Moors, beset by injuries and constant swopping and changing, stuttered.

But the New Year seems to have swept in a new, increasingly confident team and Moors will be looking to extend their unbeaten run to nine matches today when Faulkner’s men entertain Burscough.

Continuity has been the biggest problem and Edwards, who has been helping on the coaching side, says it is no coincidence their fortunes have improved with a settled line-up.

“I’ve played with 13 different partners up-front – I’ve never experienced anything like it before,” said Edwards.

“We didn’t really get a steady team together – there wasn’t enough continuity. Then results suffer and once you get near the bottom of the table all the luck goes against you. Losing can become habit.

“Now we’ve got a settled team on the pitch, with basically the same 11 and that’s made a big difference,” he added.

“We’ve also been working hard in training to get back that winning mentality. The results in drawing with Tamworth and beating Gateshead have given everybody a lot of belief.

“Instead of looking at the teams below us, we’re looking at the teams above us.

“Now the challenge is to see if we can go unbeaten for the rest of the season. I don’t see any reason why we continue what we’ve been doing in the last few games.

“If you look at the results since New Year we would be in contention for the play-offs.”