Hornchurch boss Mark Stimson hailed his side for a 'fantastic job' following their FA Cup upset of Braintree Town at the weekend.

Leading scorer Sam Higgins was forced to withdraw from the side at late notice, but Ola Ogunwamide put in-form Urchins ahead inside a quarter of an hour against the National League South side, with Liam Nash adding a superb second from a free-kick.

And Nash sealed the 3-0 win with a determined second-half effort to the delight of the majority in a 635-strong crowd at Bridge Avenue.

"Sam had a little niggle in the warm-up and didn't feel he could start. It was hard to leave him out and a big blow with Tom Wraight also missing," said Stimson.

"To have your top scorer injured in the warm-up is not the best news. But give the boys who stepped in credit, they did a fantastic job and to get through was what we wanted.

"The boys in front of Joe [Wright] did their job and overall it was a really good afternoon to get into the next round.

"It was a great finish by Ola and Nashy's free-kick, he practices those every night and the boys have been giving him some stick as it's the first one he has scored.

"But the third goal was typical of him. He hit an unbelievable volley, which hits the post and crossbar, and runs across goal to get to the ball first, spin and finish. Full credit to him."

After recording a seventh successive win in all competitions, Hornchurch were handed another home tie when the draw for the fourth qualifying round was made on Monday afternoon.

And they will look for another giantkilling when they welcome National League South outfit Oxford City on Saturday week (October 15).

"Oxford on paper sounds great but it's not played on paper," added Stimson.

"When we get to that we will respect our opponents. We wanted a home tie and we've got that, so we will give it our best shot and if we perform like we did last weekend we will have a chance.

"We had a great crowd at the weekend, great numbers, and I'm sure we'll get the same, who get behind the boys and hopefully help us have another great Saturday night."

Asked how he would rate his latest FA Cup experience in a long and successful career, Stimson recalled other highlights from his playing and managerial career.

"When I was playing for Canvey, who were the equivalent to Hornchurch at that time, we beat Northampton live on the BBC," he added.

"Then we beat Wigan, who were a League One side, and lost to Burnley, who were in the Championship.

"As a manager, at Gillingham, we lost to Aston Villa live on the BBC when Martin O'Neill was the manager, 2-1 to a James Milner penalty."