Chris Wilder said he was “fantastically happy” after his Oxford United team drew his home-town club Sheffield United in the first round of the FA Cup yesterday.

The U’s travel to Bramall Lane in two week’s time and Wilder, who played 105 games for The Blades in two spells between 1986 and 1999, said his side would give it a “real go”.

“I think from a personal point of view everybody knows where I am at with that football club,” said Wilder.

“It’s great for the supporters and no doubt we are going well. It’s a great place to watch a game of football and hopefully we can take a really big following.

“And for the players it’s also a great place to play.

“You always dread an away tie at a non-league club and you want a home tie, and at this stage there are five or six clubs in League One, you want to get and Sheffield United are one of those.

“I should imagine we are all the same – we want to go up there and play well – there is no doubt about it.

“We have got players that have played at that level and can rise to the occasion.

“We took 4,000 fans to West Ham on a Tuesday night in the League Cup last year and gave a good account of ourselves.

“And I would love to see at the end to my left (from the dug-out) filled up with yellow and hopefully we can do that.”

Wilder is not the only one with Blades connections, United’s goalkeeping coach Alan Hodgkinson also played there.

The U’s boss added: “I had two spells there and I’m a local boy.

“I spent a majority of my life there, but for Alan it's also fantastic for him.

“He was an absolute legend and played over 600 games for them.

“And it’s great for me as a manager to take a team to my hometown club. I had a couple of promotions there and they gave me my football league debut.

“I had a decent relationship with the crowd because they always knew I was one of them.

“It was a long time ago, but we had a bit of success under Dave Bassett.”

But Wilder admitted he went through the mill as he waited for Oxford’s name to be drawn.

But Wilder admitted he went through the mill as he waited for Oxford's name to be drawn. He added: "It was the back-end (of the draw). When it was going through I was shouting at the telly and my wife said to me 'do you really want to be in that draw? "But when we drew Sheffield United I thought that will do - we'll have some of that. Within minutes of the draw I must have had 20 texts about it. "I'm fantastically happy about the draw and I expect us to go there and play well."