Oxford United captain Barry Quinn has issued a rallying cry to his teammates ahead of today's FA Cup clash with Southend at the Kassam Stadium.

And he has told Oxford's players not to think, just because they are not expected to win, that they can accept defeat.

"I suppose people will say we're underdogs, but we don't see it like that," said the former Republic of Ireland international.

"They're going to be a good side, we're going to give them respect, but no fear. It's no excuse to go out there and say we're expected to lose - that's not good enough. We expect, and want, to win every game.

"It's not one of those where you can say you can sit back and enjoy it and if you lose it doesn't matter.

"Whoever it is, whether it's Man Utd or Tonbridge, you want to win every game and we'll give it everything we've got."

The bookies believe the class of League One Southend should shine through in the end, and they make them 10-11 to win today's second-round tie, with Oxford 5-2 and the draw priced at 9-4.

Today's contest doesn't exactly have the feel of most early-round FA Cup clashes where the Football League club travels in trepidation to some non-League outpost to play on a bog of a pitch and have to put up with very basic changing rooms.

Quite the opposite, in fact. The Kassam Stadium's facilities are considerably better than those at Roots Hall, where Southend were last season taking on Championship opponents.

But for all that, the Shrimpers will still be fearful about being on the end of an embarrassing scoreline.

Said U's striker Gary Twigg: "I don't think many teams will want to come here.

"Obviously the pitch is magnificent, and the facilities, but if we can get the crowd behind us early on I don't see why we can't cause an upset."

Quinn added: "You just look at the results you get in the Cup.

"We're the underdogs, but we're at home and they're not stupid - they know what the FA Cup is all about, and that the pressure's off us. I'm sure they're expecting a hard game."

Quinn said United's confidence was boosted by their win at Kidderminster, when they recorded a second successive clean sheet, and they are "up for it" against Southend.

"We certainly are and I can't wait," he said.

"Last week was a massive result for us because we've got one league game between now and Boxing Day, and it was important to go into today with those three points.

"It's going to be hard, but they'll hopefully let us play a bit more than what we're used to at home.

"Every good team is built on a solid defence and clean sheets.

"This will be a good test for us, especially defensively, because Southend are very good going forward."