Oxford City Manager Ross Jenkins has said that Oxford City’s walking wounded will have to be at their very best to get the better of Scarborough Athletic on Saturday.

The Hoops will make the mammoth journey to Yorkshire in the Emirates FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round, hoping to secure a place in the first round proper for a second successive season.

However, City’s squad has been hampered by a number of injuries and niggles of late and Jenkins has admitted that some of his squad will have to play through the pain.

“You always try and put your strongest team out but for this game we’re looking at putting out the fittest eleven.

“We’ll have to play players who are fully fit and have no real niggles, but that’s going to be really hard as we have so many.

“If we did that then we’d have to play seven players. Some boys are going to have to play through it, that’s a fact.

“We don’t have enough bodies to go up there and play a second-string team, I know a lot of clubs do that the higher up the pyramid you go but we’re not in that position.

“We don’t have that resource or squad size. We’ve added two boys in Pedders & Roberts so that helps us slightly.

“We’re a little bit like the walking wounded but hopefully by Saturday we’ll be in a better place.

“There’s no hiding from the journey, it’s going to be a long one.

“It’s going to be a battle for sure and I know exactly what it’s going to feel like.

“It’s an important cup to be in. Everyone knows the importance of it and we’ll all be putting a big shift in to try and get a good result.

“This week we’ve done some good planning and prepping with the players we do have. So hopefully we can put a squad to go up there and be competitive.

“The FA Cup is a special competition to be in so hopefully we can come back with a good result.”

The FA Cup brings with it the sense of nostalgia that makes the competition loved by so many fans throughout the world.

City have fond memories of their own campaigns, especially in recent years after claiming a number of scalps.

However, after promotion in the summer perhaps perceptions have shifted and the Hoops come into this tie as the higher ranked side.

Despite that, Jenkins says that he doesn’t see his side as favourites and has insisted that his team will need to be at their very best to beat a strong Scarborough side. 

“On paper we’re the higher ranked team, but if you look at the size of the clubs and the attendances, there’s not much between the two clubs.

“It’s going to be difficult for sure. It’s going to be a battle but it’s not like going to an Oldham or a Chesterfield kind of scenario.

“We’re new to the National League and we’ve done well to get here but there’s not a million miles between us.

“They’ll know that and we need to know that. We can’t go there thinking we’re better than anyone because we’ll get rolled over.

“We’ve got to respect them and we’ve got to respect that the National League North is a difficult league.

“If you’re competing at that level then you’ve got something about you.

“We’re fully aware of the challenge ahead of us. The travel isn’t ideal but there’s a lot of clubs that have to do that as well so we can’t use that as an excuse and we’ll have to make sure we apply ourselves properly.”