CHEY Dunkley has urged Oxford United to make the most of their second chance and beat Braintree Town in the Emirates FA Cup tonight.

A first-round replay at the Kassam Stadium was required after the teams finished 1-1 in Essex ten days ago.

Although United had chances to put the game to bed after Ryan Taylor opened the scoring, Braintree levelled through Kenny Davis and came close to snatching an upset at the death.

The visitors played the final 20 minutes with ten men after Johnny Mullins collected his second yellow card.

Fellow centre half Dunkley, who missed the first game through suspension, will continue his run in the side tonight and is determined to help United finish the job second time around.

“We got a lifeline in the first game to stay in the tie, because we could have easily lost after going down to ten men,” he said.

“It happens (shocks) every year, so as long as we are ready and equipped for the game I think we’ve got a lot (of quality) in that dressing room which can definitely get through the tie.

“We’ve got to keep that work ethic, from the start especially.

“We’ve started strongly in the last couple of games – last week at Dagenham we scored within a couple of minutes and then straight after half-time.

“Those quick starts are important and against a side like Braintree to put them under pressure.”

A home game against Forest Green Rovers awaits the winners in the second round next month.

The £18,000 in prize money will be supplemented by an additional £12,500, after the second round tie was selected by the BBC to be part of their Final Score programme on Sunday, December 6.

Dunkley knows all about FA Cup upsets, having been in the Kidderminster squad which beat Football League sides Newport County and Peterborough United two seasons ago.

He said: “I’ve been in this situation before with Kidderminster.

“Now I’m on the other side.

“It’s always hard because they raise their game by ten per cent, but we should have enough.

“We will approach it just like any league game, because there’s a reward in Forest Green.

“They are a lower side and we’d fancy ourselves to get through again.”

HIGH winds could cause problems for Oxford United at the Kassam Stadium tonight.

Gusts of up to 60mph are forecast for the FA Cup replay.

See oxfordmail.co.uk/sport for news of any disruption.