JAMIE Mackie says he has nothing but respect for Plymouth Argyle – but that won’t stop him celebrating if he finds the net against them this afternoon.

Oxford United head to Home Park for the Emirates FA Cup second round clash buoyed by an impressive midweek win over Rochdale.

The U’s striker scored the first goal in Tuesday’s 4-2 victory, and was also on target in the Sky Bet League One triumph over today’s rivals in October.

Mackie made more than 100 appearances for Plymouth in a two-and-a-half year spell with the Devon club, but came in for some unjust criticism when enjoying opening the scoring in the crunch clash against the Pilgrims earlier in the season.

That strike was his first for United, but the forward says his celebration would have been the same no matter who the opponents were.

“I had a great time down there, I had a good affiliation with everyone and it will be good to go back and see some old faces,” he said.

“I think it gets misconstrued in football when you celebrate scoring against a club you’ve played for that you don’t respect them.

“But that’s just not true at

all.

“When we played them, we were bottom of the league, they were just above us.

“It was a do-or-die affair and we had to win, everyone knew that.

“I scored early on and it was impossible to hide any emotions I had. There was no ill-feeling to Plymouth – but I was playing for Oxford.

“Saturday is the same. It’s the FA Cup, there’s no disrespect to anyone, but I want to play well for Oxford and win for Oxford.

“Hopefully I can get on the scoresheet again.”

Mackie knows every second-round fixture in the FA Cup has players dreaming about what may follow.

And he says the U’s are determined to not let the opportunity of a potential huge clash in the next round pass them by.

“I’m excited by the FA Cup – and everyone else is too,” he said.

“We are under no illusions that this will be a really tough match though.

“Both sides know they are one win from the third round and anything is possible then.”