United were handed a disappointing tie in today’s draw for the FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round, with another trip to Dagenham & Redbridge. While Oxford fans would have settled for anyone at home, or a trip to one of non-league football’s lesser clubs, the one fixture that was guaranteed not to excite anyone too much was a visit to another Conference ground, especially one that Oxford have already visited.

The match, between the two teams currently vieing for top place in the Conference, will take place on Saturday 28 October. By that time, depending on how results go this weekend, Dagenham may have overtaken United at the top of the non-league.

There is a certain ambivalence about the cup for this season among United supporters. While some would appreciate a decent cup run, and the confidence and finances that might engender, others would prefer that the side was not distracted from its main purpose, that of occupying the only automatic promotion place out of the Conference. Rage Online would be happy to have both a cup run and automatic promotion, but if we had to sacrifice one it would obviously be the cup. Providing that we don’t go out of the cup at the first attempt, only to go on and then miss out on promotion as well.