THERE'S a huge financial incentive awaiting Oxford United should they beat Nottingham Forest in their FA Cup replay after last night's fourth round draw handed the winners a trip to Champions League high-fliers and Cup favourites Chelsea.

For second division Oxford, a return to Stamford Bridge could be worth another £150,000, which would represent a pot of gold for the second season running.

A year ago, they were also paired with the aristocratic multi-nationals from West London and, as every United fan remembers, only a highly controversial refereeing decision from Reed denied near-bankrupt Oxford a shock victory.

It finished 1-1 at the Manor Ground and in the replay at Stamford Bridge, the U's again shocked the Premiership outfit by taking the lead, only for Chelsea to hit back thanks to a virtuoso performance from Gianfranco Zola, eventually running out 4-2 winners.

United skipper Les Robinson said: "It's a great draw. After last year we'll see if we have progressed.

"We've obviously got to beat Forest first, but we've seen Forest at first hand now and we're not going to pay them the respect in the replay that we gave them last Friday. "For some reason, we were a bit overawed, but we can take great encouragement from the fact that we outplayed them in the second half."

Robbo added: "If we beat Forest, it will be a great day out at Chelsea. The two games against them were probably the best moments of last season and it could be the same again."

United's replay with Nottingham Forest is on Tuesday, December 21 (7.45) and the winners visit Chelsea in the fourth round on Saturday, January 8.

Sky TV will make a decision later today on which replay to show live, but it's thought Oxford's game is unlikely to be chosen.

United are not expecting to make much money out of the replay.

Said secretary Mick Brown: "Nottingham Forest' support, along with their form, has been very disappointing. "I was pleasantly surprised there were as many as 8,000 at the City Ground. But speaking to their chairman after the game, it seems they will only bring 500 or so fans to our place, so we're probably looking at around 5,500 for the replay."

United will be charging normal prices for the third-round replay. Season ticket holders have until Friday to claim their place and United are strongly urging terrace season ticket holders and members to buy their tickets before the day.

Looking at the possibility of meeting Chelsea, Robinson said: "If we do play them we've got to hope to catch them on an off day. I've seen some of their Champions League performances, when they've been fantastic, and they ripped Hull apart on Saturday, but Sunderland licked them 5-1 so they do have their bad days as well.

"If they perform on the day, with the quality players they've got, there's nothing we can do, but we've shown we are harder to beat lately and if they are below their best we could surprise them."

Story date: Monday 13 December

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.