Meet The FA Cup's Form Team Looking To Do It All Again!

Holders Chelsea maybe? What about Manchester City and their galaxy of mega stars perhaps?

Nope. It’s National League South Oxford City. They have won eight of their last nine ties stretched over the last two season and no other team can boast that type of record.

With three victories under their belt already this season, their fifth tie of last season ended in the cruelest of ways in the final seconds at Notts County.

They are very much back on the cup crusade again this weekend and manager Mark Jones has given his side a leg-up ahead of this weekend’s tie at Tranmere by calling in a favour.

“In the FA Cup we’ve had one defeat in nine games so we’re on a wonderful run,” he said to the National League’s Oli Osborn. “It’s been a good competition for us.

“The money we have earned over the past year or so has been used to keep us playing football at this level. We had a few problems over the years and that’s something we’ve been able to address. It’s a huge competition for clubs like ourselves.

“It’s another fantastic opportunity for us. Last year was great but we know it doesn’t happen every year - we’re going to try again and see what happens.

“It’s a free hit for us. Not many people will be expecting us to go up to Tranmere and do anything but they said that last year!

“We’re going to enjoy it. We’re going up on the Friday, staying in a hotel and we’ve even managed to get a training slot at Liverpool’s academy which is fantastic.

“We can draw on the experience of what we’ve done before. We beat Colchester away from home 1-0 in the first round last year - we’re sure to be reminding the players of that.”

They head to Prenton Park after finally setting the record straight on the road at Hampton last Saturday.

“That’s was our first away win of the season and we did it with a little bit of style too,” Jones added after the impressive 4-2 win. “Every time we got the ball forward we caused problems.

“I wanted us to show a real togetherness. It’s been a difficult week losing my assistant (Joe Deeney) and a key player in Rob Sinclair. Maybe we get questioned on our spirit, which I don’t see. When we get it right we’re a threat - we can play.”

One player Oxford have been able to cling onto is Zac McEachran, the brother of former Chelsea starlet Josh.

“Zak’s a talented lad, he has shown he can really play,” the midfielder’s manager added.

“We’ve got a lot of time for him here at Oxford. It terms of natural talent I’m not sure there’s much better in this league or even the one above.

“He’s had to work on the physical side of his game, and making sure he is switched on. That’s the thing with him - a bit more concentration and application is all it needs. We are going to keep working with him as there are not many better in this league.”