Liam Manning has urged his players to show struggling national league side Maidenhead United the ‘utmost respect’ ahead of their visit to the Kassam Stadium.

Oxford United host Maidenhead in the first round of the FA Cup this afternoon, with the clash the first time the two teams will come up against each other.

Alan Devonshire's Maidenhead sit fourth from bottom in the Vanarama National League having won just one of their last 14 league matches.

United go into the game as the clear favourite but Manning is aware of the history of upsets that the FA Cup has produced in its time.

He said: “That is the beauty of the competition, I think that is why it is such a special competition with the history of upsets that has been throughout it.

“The upsets come if you don’t do things properly, don’t prepare properly and show the opposition the level of respect they deserve.

“We will be showing them the utmost respect that they thoroughly deserve and then looking at ourselves to make sure our focus is correct.

"And our discipline, intensity and all the behaviours that I constantly bang on about are on the money.”

The U’s boss hinted that there may be a number of changes to the team after a busy period of fixtures.

Manning added that it's not about "producing a wow moment" for players who are brought into the fold but "having really high-level basics".

He said: “It has been a heavy period. When you look at it, we are going in the third week of Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday.

“A huge number of games over the course of that period. We have tweaked things and changed things throughout that period.

“That comes back to that depth we have got where we are in a position where we can make changes and people step in and the level still stays where it has been.

“I think it’s important to keep momentum and keep people in a spot where they can carry form through but at the same point, I think there are certain people that might find it difficult to play that volume of games."

On what players need to do to impress when picked, he said: “It’s understanding if you do get the opportunity what it looks like. It’s not about producing a wow moment or nine out of 10 moments.

“I think the big bit is coming in and having really high-level basics. Putting the team first, showing a real level of consistency and doing what is needed.”

Manning admitted the FA Cup has not been “overly kind” to him in previous years but is hoping to take the U’s into the second round.

He said: “Going into every to try and win it is our priority. If you’re a competitor then you want to win.

“Whether it’s the FA Cup, the EFL Trophy game or a league game, we go into it with the exact same mindset of let's do every single thing we can to win it.

“Ultimately when one game is done we quickly move on to the next.

“All of our energy, attention and focus goes into making sure we do the correct work and what is needed to go into the game Saturday to perform and win.”