FA Cup: Can National League strugglers Torquay United upset Derby County?

Then and now - a teenage Dean Moxey helped Exeter City draw 0-0 at Manchester United, while the now 36-year-old is hoping to upset his former club Derby County

Dean Moxey knows a thing or two about an FA Cup upset, and the veteran Torquay United defender is plotting at least one more against his former club Derby County.

The 36-year-old was part of the Exeter City side, who as a non-league team, famously held Manchester United to a goalless draw at Old Trafford in the third round in January 2005.

A career that saw him move to the Rams for 18 months in 2009 before spells at Crystal Palace, Bolton and back to Exeter, has seen him spend the past two years at Plainmoor.

The Rams will compete at this stage of the competition for the first time in 38 years after their financially-stricken relegation from the Championship last summer.

"The FA Cup is magical at times," he says when asked about the chances of an upset against arguably the biggest side in the first round.

"I don't think this'll be as a big an upset as drawing against Manchester United at Old Trafford, but it's one of those where we can go and enjoy it.

"There's no real pressure on us, we are the massive underdogs," he adds to BBC Sport.

"We're bottom of our league and they're doing well in theirs, so it's just a game to go out and try and put on our best game, and if we play like we did on Tuesday night hopefully we'll get chances and maybe cause an upset."

Aaron Jarvis' hat-trick helped Torquay to a 6-1 win over Aldershot Town on Tuesday

Tuesday night was what Torquay fans will hope is a watershed in their poor season so far.

A 6-1 win at home to Aldershot Town was just their third in the league this season and fourth overall, having needed a replay to get past Hampton and Richmond Borough in the FA Cup fourth qualifying round.

A side who were a missed penalty away from promotion back to League Two less than 18 months ago are now a worryingly looking over their shoulders at the possibility of a drop to semi-professional football for the second time in five years.

"It was a fantastic performance and we're very proud of that particular game and we've got to keep that standard up now in our league performances, but at least it takes us into the Derby game feeling confident," says manager Gary Johnson.

"The boys kept the ball a lot better than we have done for a little while, we've created a lot of chances, there was a lot of movement and you're going to need all of that against Derby on Sunday."

'You have to believe in yourselves'

Former Bristol City, Yeovil Town and Cheltenham Town boss Gary Johnson has been in charge at Torquay for more than four years

Like Moxey, Johnson is no stranger to FA Cup shocks.

He was assistant manager at Cambridge United when the club - then in the old Fourth Division - made the quarter-finals of the FA Cup in 1990.

They lost 1-0 to Crystal Palace who went on to upset Liverpool in the semi-finals before losing to Manchester United in a replay.

The following year, after promotion to the Third Division, the U's beat League Cup winners Sheffield Wednesday 4-0 to again make the last eight, with Tony Adams' goal seeing Arsenal beat Cambridge 2-1 at Highbury.

"You have to believe in yourselves," Johnson told BBC Sport.

"That's why the Aldershot game was such a good game for us going into this big cup game, and you have to compete and you have to hope the opposition don't turn up with their best game.

"Derby have got a best game, but like all teams, if you're at least having 50% of the game then you've always got a chance.

"You've got to appeal to the boys that you're live on the TV, you can always enhance your reputation in football and that's massive as individuals.

"You don't want to lose anybody, but at the same time it's motivation that a lot more people are watching than usual."

So can Torquay cause an upset?

"Derby do not want to be a banana skin and we've got the opportunity of doing that," said Johnson.

"It's in our favour that we won't be the favourites to win this game, so we're the underdogs and the FA Cup has a funny way of helping the underdog win football matches."