OXFORD United go into tomorrow's FA Cup fourth qualifying round tie at Dagenham & Redbridge brimming with confidence.
The U's produced their most complete away performance of the sesason in winning 3-0 at Cambridge last Friday, and then saw the Daggers' Conference challenge somewhat blunted when their second-placed rivals surprisingly lost 3-1 at home to Kidderminster.
But Jim Smith's men know an FA Cup tie is a one-off occasion and league form will have no bearing.
Dagenham are itching for revenge after Oxford won 1-0 at the Glen Hopkin Stadium in August, when they played for nearly an hour with ten men after Barry Quinn was sent off.
This is the first time for more than 40 years that Oxford have had to enter the FA Cup at a qualifying round stage, yet the incentive to progress is as strong as ever, with significant prizemoney for each round reached.
There's £10,000 up for grabs just for reaching the first round proper.
Once again United will have a large travelling support of well over 1,000.
Midfielder Chris Hargreaves said the manner of the win at Cambridge had given all the players a lift.
"Confidence is high at the moment," he admitted. "Everyone's looking forward to Saturday. The players love the Cup, of course."
One player staking a claim for a regular starting spot is Yemi Odubade (pictured).
The ex-Eastbourne Borough striker hit a brace in the win at Cambridge last Friday in only his second start of the season, which came about because Rob Duffy was handed a one-match ban.
Odubade said: "I want to start. I don't want to be a superstar, but like every striker, or every player, I want to start and play 90 minutes."
Smith has to perm two from three up front.
The difficulty is that whenever Steve Basham is not playing, the team miss his ability to hold the ball up and his clever link-up play.
Yet Duffy and Odubade are undoubtedly the two who look most likely to find the net "Six goals from two starts is all right as a scoring record!" said Odubade, who came off the bench to get the winner when ten-man United won at Dagenham in the league.
He was pleased with the way he and Basham combined at the Abbey Stadium in a performance that sets the team up perfectly for their testing FA Cup tie.
"I know how Bash plays from last season and we always seem to do well together in training," he said. "We know our strengths and weaknesses and it showed at Cambridge that we can both play together."
SHOULD the tie at Dagenham finish level after 90 minutes, the replay would be at Oxford next Tuesday (7.45 pm).
Tickets, which would be priced the same as for league matches, would go on sale on Sunday from 11am-2pm to personal callers only and then on Monday from 9am-7pm to personal and telephone callers.
Fans would also be able to buy tickets at the pre-match reduced price on the day of the match from 9am-2pm.
Tickets would also be available on-line www.oufc.co.uk from 8pm on Saturday until 8pm on Monday.
Season ticket holders' seats would be reserved until 2pm on the day of the match.
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