Liddell's guide to avoiding a shock

By Jonathan Stevenson

Liddell has scored three times in 22 appearances this season

On Friday, Oldham Athletic travel to King's Lynn to kick off the second round of the FA Cup.

The tie has classic Cup clash written all over it: Southern League Premier side hosts League One outfit hoping for a shock result and a potentially money-spinning trip to one of the big boys in round three.

Oldham's experienced midfielder Andy Liddell, however, has seen it all before - the Scot was a part of the Wigan side humbled in the FA Cup by Canvey Island five years ago.

Liddell tells BBC Sport how Oldham will go about trying to avoid a shock at The Walks.

PERFECT PREPARATION

We will prepare for the game in exactly the same way we would for a league match, no change at all.

It makes no difference that King's Lynn are further down the league ladder, we'll be taking them seriously and we'll have to do our jobs properly, absolutely.

Losing to Canvey wasn't as bad as breaking my leg, but it wasn't far off

I don't think the fact we're favourites puts any more pressure on us, to be honest I don't think I've ever felt any pressure being paid to play football.

There might be a few nerves before the game, but the word pressure is used too much in football nowadays.

How can you feel pressure getting paid to play this game? That'll only start when I'm not doing this job anymore.

RESPECT YOUR OPPONENTS

We are looking forward to the game, it's a chance for both teams to get into the third round and King's Lynn will fancy their chances because they've been drawn a league team at home.

KING'S LYNN FACTFILE Formed: 1879 Nickname: The Linnets Ground: The Walks Record crowd: 12,987 vs Exeter in 1950 FA Cup tie Record fee received: £75,000 from Southampton for Mark Paul in 1998

We went to Kettering in the last round and they gave us a hell of a game, we only sneaked through in the last minute, so we're expecting King's Lynn to be a good team too.

I know a bit about them as I used to play in the schoolboy system in Leeds with Dean West, who is the assistant player-manager down there, so I've been speaking to him a bit about the game.

He's expecting as tough a game as we are and there's so much at stake for both teams.

It's a massive draw for them but we had this last year when we played Chasetown and it was the biggest game they'd ever had, but we coped with it and in the end got through.

If we all do our jobs properly and play like we have been doing, we should be okay.

REMEMBER CANVEY ISLAND

When I was at Wigan in 2001, we beat Stoke 6-1 on a Tuesday and then the next Saturday we got turned over 1-0 at home by Canvey Island.

But that's how football can be. It was a horrible feeling, absolutely gutting, but it can happen to you and we have to make sure it doesn't happen to us on Friday.

Report: Wigan 0-1 Canvey

Canvey were non-league but they were full-time and they had some ex-league players in the side. The standard of football was high, as it is for most non-league clubs now.

It wasn't a case of Wigan being over-confident I can assure you, Canvey beat us because they were the better team on the day, pure and simple.

It's part and parcel of being a footballer, you don't want those days to ever come around, but when they do you have to deal with them.

It wasn't as bad as breaking my leg, but as far as my worst moments in football go it wasn't far off, it a was a bad experience.

UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF THE FA CUP

I've had some really good times in the FA Cup, getting to the quarter-finals, but I've had some bad times too, like losing to Canvey.

LIDDELL'S FA CUP Barnsley: 12 apps/one goal Wigan: Seven apps/one goal Sheff U: Five apps/three goals Oldham: Five apps/one goal Best year: Quarter-final with Barnsley in 1998

It's a fantastic competition and we are all really keen to do well on Friday.

The television cameras this weekend will be at our game against King's Lynn as well as Nottingham Forest's trip to Salisbury on Sunday.

BBC to show Salisbury tie

The cameras are there for one reason and one reason only - to see a shock, to see Oldham and Forest dumped out of the Cup. We all know that and we all have to make sure they don't get their shock.

I've tasted defeat to a non-league team in the FA Cup and it is an experience I do not want to have to go through again, nor do I want the other players at Oldham to suffer that fate.

MAKE SURE YOU ARE IN THE HAT FOR ROUND THREE

People say the non-league teams are desperate to go through into the third round so they get a big club, but Oldham want to play one of the big teams too.

It's just as important for teams at our level as it is for them, because the financial boost you can get could mean the manager getting money for a couple of new players.

If those are the players that make the difference between getting promotion at the end of the season, you can understand just how important it is.

There will be some shocks over the weekend, there always is, we just have to make sure we're not one of them.

I'm confident we can win every game and this one's no different. If you don't think like that, what's the point in bothering?