FA Cup third round: Oxford United boss previews Coventry City tie

Oxford United make the trip to Coventry City tomorrow for a 12.30pm kick-off against a side which has gone undefeated in seven Sky Bet Championship games, and lost just once in 11 league matches.

During that run, the Sky Blues have won at fellow promotion hopefuls Middlesbrough and Sunderland, while collecting three points at home to Birmingham City and Sheffield Wednesday.

When the third round draw was made at the beginning of December, Mark Robins’ side were 17th in the table, six points above the relegation zone.

Their recent form has however propelled them to eighth in the league, just three points shy of the play-off places.

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U’s head coach Buckingham said: “When the draw was made, they were in the bottom third of the league, but they seem to have changed a few things and results have certainly picked up massively since the draw, with lots of wins and a very clear way of playing.

“It’ll be a very tough test, but we’ve shown before that we’re more than capable of matching that, and competing, so we’ll do as much as we can to try and do that throughout the 90 minutes.”

He added: “We’ll be doing what we can to try and perform firstly, and if we can perform as well as we did at Charlton, we’ll put ourselves in a strong position to try and come away with a result.

“But our priority, and I’ve made no secret of this, is the league and making sure we’re as ready for Carlisle as we can be, so when the league resumes, we’re ready to start our second part to the season strong.

“This gives us an opportunity to continue working on a playing style and maybe allows us to have a look at some other players as well, both in this competition and on Tuesday against AFC Wimbledon.

“We must make sure again we put on a performance for those 3,000 fans, that they can come away and be proud of.”

Although United missed out on a third round glamour tie, such as the one at home to Arsenal last season, Coventry still represent a step up in terms of quality for Buckingham and his side.

The Sky Blues finished fifth during the previous campaign and were a penalty shoot-out away from the Premier League after losing 6-5 on spot kicks against Luton Town in the play-off final.

Buckingham meanwhile knows exactly what the FA Cup means to supporters, having been in the crowd when the U’s lost 2-0 at Arsenal in a third round tie back in January 2003.

He said: “I grew up here with the FA Cup and I know the excitement of it, the giant-killings, and even Oxford going up to Highbury, and watching that game against Arsenal.

“I know how excited people get for it, and to be able to now manage and coach in it, it’s one I’m looking forward to away to Coventry.

“It’s just down the road, so that helps with the travel, and I think we’re taking just under 3,000 fans.

“It’s a tough team and they’ve picked up a lot of form since the draw was made, and gone on a decent winning spree.

“It’ll be a good game for us, and a good test against a team in the league above. It’s a cup competition and we’ll see where we can go.”