Oxford United boss Karl Robinson has declared the result is all that matters as he takes his side to non-league Woking in the FA Cup on Sunday. 

The Kassam Stadium outfit travel to Surrey for the first-round fixture after what has been a frustrating start to the league campaign.

United currently sit in 17th place in League One and have won just five of their 16 league games this season.

They have only been in the top half of the table once so far this campaign, but with the club unbeaten in their last three matches - in which they have picked up five points from their last nine - Robinson hopes his team can take this form into the cup on Sunday.

He told the club’s press: “We know it is an important game.
“The result is all that matters; just make sure you get over the line and are in the hat for the draw for the next round.

"Billy [Bodin] and Matty [Taylor] will be in the squad.

“Matty in particular has been in the situation of playing for a lower league club in this competition after he was released from here so he understands both sides of it.”

The 42-year-old also paid tribute to the late Ronnie Radford who passed away aged 79 on November 2.

Radford is immortalised in FA Cup folklore after he scored the equalising goal for non-league Hereford Town against high flying Newcastle United in the 1972 edition of the competition.

The Bulls went on to win the match 2-1 and became the first non-league side since 1949 to eliminate a top-flight team.

His long-range strike followed by his celebration with his arms aloft along on top of a huge pitch invasion have been regularly repeated whenever the early rounds of the FA Cup are played, with the goal being voted as one of the best in the competition’s history.

Robinson added: “I saw the news about Ronnie Radford dying this week and it’s quite poignant to be going into the FA Cup after that.

“His goal was on the credits to Grandstand when I was growing up and part of the history of what I believe is still the greatest cup competition in the world.

“I am a romantic when it comes to this part of football”. Sunday’s cup tie will be the eighth time that Oxford will play Woking in a competitive fixture, with United winning three times, Woking once along with three draws.
The game will kick-off at 2pm.