IT IS FA Cup third round weekend. It is the weekend Accrington Stanley hoped they would be facing Manchester United. But they are not.

‘What might have been...’, ‘What if...?’ are words that will have been uttered many times by those of a Stanley persuasion since their second round replay defeat to Yeovil Town on a wet Tuesday night in mid-December.

But they have not passed the lips of Piero Mingoia or his team-mates since the immediate aftershock. They certainly have no intention of letting it be a distraction for an important League Two game at Exeter City today, as they fix all their focus on the top seven.

“There was disappointment on the night and probably for a couple of days afterwards, but it goes,” said the former Watford midfielder.

“In this job you have a game every two or three days over this period so you have no time to dwell anyway.

“It was obviously very disappointing at the time because we not only had a big prize financially for the club but also a great showcase game against United that everyone wanted to be involved in.

“We should have beaten them at Accrington. We had great chances. We didn’t know what the prize was then, but things didn’t go our way.”

All the hype and hopes of a giant killing instead lie with League One Yeovil, who host United tomorrow.

With the game live on television there is little escape from it, but that doesn’t trouble Mingoia.

“Everyone knows the game would have been this weekend but it wasn’t to be,” said the 23-year-old.

“If you’re not in it, you don’t care about it any more.

“I’ll watch it, because I watch any football that’s on. But you’ve got to be mature about it.”

Mingoia speaks with a matter-of-fact mentality that belies his tender years. But when you consider his football schooling it all becomes clear.

The Londoner’s first mentor was Sean Dyche; Burnley’s bullish, enterprising, no-nonsense manager, whose basic requirement of any team he has been involved with is hard work.

It is what inspired Burnley’s promotion last season, and that philosophy is a foundation Mingoia continues to build his career on now, thanks in part to his own character, but also those early footballing influences.

“It’s a bit of both,” he said.

“When I was coming through the youth system I was developing as a player and a person. I was learning about myself.

“Sean Dyche was my youth team coach and he taught me a lot - not only about stuff to do with football but helping me become a man.

“It was all about relentlessness. Working hard every day. It all came from him.”

Mingoia has tracked Dyche’s path from coaching into management, from Watford to Burnley - Championship to Premier League - with an interest that has been reciprocated.

“He messaged me when I got back in the team and scored against Cambridge,” said Mingoia, appreciatively.

“He is in the best league in the world, he’s got his own situation and his own team, yet he still has time to message me.”

Burnley are fast becoming the surprise package of the Premier League, but for Mingoia, Dyche’s burgeoning managerial reputation is no shock.

“He was destined to progress. He has always been ambitious,” he said.

“He was a youth team coach when I first met him but he always said how far he wanted to get.

“There are no limits to what he can achieve.

“His knowledge of the game is exceptional. I’ve always liked that about him. He constantly tries to make himself better, and he tried to get that way of thinking across to our youth team.

“Some took it on board, some decided not to. I tried to listen as much as I could.”

The learning process is a daily one for conscientious Mingoia, who described the last 12 months - during which he signed a contract extension with Stanley - as “very positive”.

It was not always straightforward, after finding himself out of the side following John Coleman’s return for a second spell in charge.

But Mingoia referred to his early mentoring under Dyche, grafted, and hasn’t looked back since his match-winning double against Cambridge in November.

“When someone new comes in you’ve just got to do your best,” he said. “You’ve just got to keep working and channel any frustration into determination and try to get back in.

“I’ve managed to score a few goals, which is good, so hopefully I can keep doing that.

“The type of person I am, whether things are going well or not I just get in and work hard. It’s all you can do.”

The personal and collective target is now the top seven, which would more than make up for Stanley’s FA Cup exit.

“We’ve got to try to get in and around the play-offs, which we are very capable of,” he said. “It’s down to us really, getting the self belief.”

“We’ve won two or three wins on the bounce but then lost a decisive game.

“Whether the manager likes you or not, or you know him or not, it’s your job so you’ve just got to keep working.

“It’s frustrating because you want to play football, but you’ve just got to channel that into determination - training well and hard and being as professional as you can be - and try to get back in.

“It’s been all right since then.

“You can say all the right things as much as you want, but if you’re not training well and not performing day in, day out ... it’s down to what you do on the pitch.