ROSS Jenkins hopes his Oxford City side can look to other qualities such as hunger and determination, to counter their lack of Football League experience.

The Hoops make the trip to Boreham Wood this weekend, to take on a side which boasts plenty of know-how higher up the football pyramid.

The club’s captain, midfielder Jack Payne, came through the ranks at Gillingham, before going on to play for the likes of Peterborough United and Blackpool in the Football League.

He is not alone to have played at that high a level, with forward Angelo Balanta making 25 appearances for Queens Park Rangers in Sky Bet Championship, prior to permanent stints at Bristol Rovers and Carlisle United.

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Hoops head coach Jenkins said: “We know we’re not going to be able to compete with any of these clubs financially, and I think we’ve got to take that away from every case that we have for losing the game or not competing.

“They’ve got league experience and some really good boys who have got hundreds of games in the league.

“Hunger, determination, sharpness and adrenaline – you can’t put a figure on that, so we need to make sure that we address that first.

“I honestly believe that when we’re on our day, we’re as good as anyone in terms of football.

“The boys know it and we need to address the other side to the game first though, and that’s just the willingness to cover distance.

“The first half of the last three or four games, we haven’t been willing enough to go and do that, which is very unlike us.

“Technically, I’ve got no doubts about the boys competing at this level. We’ve got a very technical squad, with boys who could probably play higher, but at the same time, we need to make sure we’re on it every game.”

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In the reverse fixture against the Wood in August, the Hoops won 4-0 to claim their first victory in the Vanarama National League, and Jenkins warned the Hertfordshire side would be out for revenge.

He said: “The last few seasons, they’ve been in and around the play-offs. They’re a good team and they’ve got some really good players, and it looks like they’ve got a full-strength team back, so it’s going to be a challenge.

“They’ll know what happened last time at our place and they’ll want to put that right, but we’ve also got to remember that we have beaten a very good team previously.

“We’ve got to go in there with energy and be positive because we’ve had a good result against them already.

“We fully respect them, we know they’re in a false position because of the squad they’ve got and the experience they’ve got, but they’ll soon get up there and I’m pretty sure they’ll be in and around it again.

“We have to be positive, and go there and try and impose ourselves a lot more than what we’ve done in the last three or four games.”