OXFORD United go into tonight's FA Cup replay at Stamford Bridge with hundreds of thousands wishing them well.

"After what happened with the penalty in the first game, everyone in the country's going to be behind us," said midfielder Martin Gray - "apart from the Chelsea fans, of course.

"We'll have a great following going from here and we will have a real good crack at it."

The fourth-round replay is again being refereed by Birmingham's Mike Reed, who awarded a highly controversial spot-kick to Chelsea in injury time at the Manor Ground nine days ago.

United looked to be heading for a fifth-round meeting with another Premiership side, Sheffield Wednesday, at Hillsborough after Dean Windass had fired them in front early in the second half.

Kevin Francis and Jamie Cook both had chances to kill Chelsea off before Reed offered Gianluca Vialli's team a lifeline with his penalty award.

And Cook says he is desperate to make up for that miss last time.

"I miskicked in front of goal but I wasn't expecting it to come off Kevin's shin. I'd love to make up for that miss because I know that, had that gone in, we'd have gone through.

"But we know we will have to work even harder than last time. Chelsea's players have got such skill that they'll keep the ball all day if you let them." United manager Malcolm Shotton is expected to keep largely to the side which earned the first home win since November with a 1-0 victory over Barnsley last Saturday.

And that will mean Witney lad Cook getting a starting place on the left side of midfield even though Joey Beauchamp is available again after a three-match suspension.

One enforced change will be to bring back 21-year-old Elliot Jackson, one of the heroes of the 1-1 draw at the Manor, for Paul Gerrard, who is ineligible.

Giant striker Francis is likely to be on the bench again, even though his fitness has greatly improved since the team's first meeting.

Tonight's tie will go to extra-time if the sides are level after 90 minutes, with penalties to decide the winners if the teams remain deadlocked. United won't fancy their chances from them - Mike Reed will probably give twice as many to Chelsea! Chelsea player-boss Vialli will need to give a late fitness test to defender Michael Duberry, who was substituted in Sunday's 1-0 defeat by Arsenal at Highbury because of a hamstring strain. Duberry is rated doubtful.

France defender Marcel Desally is likely to drop back into defence to take Duberry's place. Although young Finnish striker Mikael Forsell came on in the second half at Highbury, Chelsea will almost certainly again start with Vialli and Gianfranco Zola up front.

The Arsenal defeat was Chelsea's first in the league for nearly six months and the London outfit are undoubtedly going through a sticky patch.

United assistant manager Mark Harrison said: "It will be interesting to see how they react to that - whether we can expect a backlash or whether they are going through a bit of a grey patch at the moment. If they are, we can hopefully take advantage."

Story date: Wednesday 03 February

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