Was it the “one of the biggest weekends in world soccer” or a slightly annoying sideshow that many managers would rather not have to dirty their hands with?

Patrick Johnston asked on Friday if FA Cup fever was building and for many players and fans watching games this weekend they will now have memories to last a lifetime.

If you were among the 5,000 Oldham fans who travelled to Goodison Park to watch their side beat high-flying Everton or if you backed Huddersfield, Sheffield United or Coventry in their upset wins, or gave thanks for the club-saving money that Luton’s draw with Liverpool could earn, you will no doubt be waxing lyrical about the Cup.

Certainly the few hundred souls who followed Havant and Waterlooville to Swansea and saw them snatch an 87th-minute equaliser in a 1-1 draw must have enjoyed the club’s first appearance in the third round.

Conference side Cambridge suddenly found 4,000 fans to watch them at Wolverhampton Wanderers and there were emotional scenes at tiny Chasetown, who led for a while before going out 3-1 at home to Cardiff City.

The Welsh club certainly played their part in maintaining the romance of the Cup by supplying stewards and officials to help the Southern League club host the game at their 2,000-capacity ground.

Yet even the “giant-killing” came with a slightly sour taste, as most of the Premier League sides who lost, and many of those who won, did so without their leading players.

Managers like David Moyes at Everton and Gary Megson at Bolton said they felt their second-string teams should have been good enough to progress but the fact that they felt able to take the risk underscored the lack of importance now attached by many to the 126-year old competition.

Arsenal’s team to play Burnley on Sunday would have struggled to take on the weakened League Cup side Arsene Wenger habitually puts out but it was still littered with internationals and good enough to beat Burnley 2-0.

So it seems the FA Cup, and especially the third round, remains a great occasion for the lower league clubs, the fans, media and sponsors — just about everyone outside the cosseted members of the Premier League. For most of them, the idea of actually winning a trophy has long been replaced as an ambition by merely finishing above the bottom three.