TRANMERE Rovers take a break from League action this weekend to face Oxford City in the Emirates FA Cup first round at Prenton Park.

Looking ahead to the game during a press conference at Rovers' Solar Campus training ground this afternoon, boss Micky Mellon – who has been nominated for Sky Bet’s October manager of the month - said: "It’s the FA Cup, terrific to be involved in and an opportunity for another home game.

"We're looking forward and going to get out there to represent the club properly.

"It's a huge occasion, a big game for us and we’re excited to be playing in it.

"We know what the prize is; both ourselves and Oxford will be fighting to get into the next round.

"That's what the fans will expect us to do here, so we will be going all out to play well and try to get a result.

"If you can’t get up to play in the FA Cup and want to perform then we’ve all got a problem, that’s really the bottom line and the attitude should always be that ‘we play for Tranmere, we represent Tranmere, the standard should be high every time, regardless of which tournament we’re playing and which team we put out.

“That should be no different on Saturday. It’s going to be a tough game, no doubt about, but we are very, very proud of our traditions in the Cup and want to get that back again.

“It’s part of the club climbing back to what we had before with having decent Cup runs.”

Mellon is in the running for manager of the month, alongside Paul Tisdale (MK Dons), Keith Curle (Northampton) and John McGreal (Colchester).

The winner will be announced tomorrow.

On being shortlisted, Mellon reflected: “This nomination isn’t about me. It's a testament to the whole football club.

“For us to be nominated so early in season is nice, but it doesn’t change the way we do things, because our focus will be training hard every day and at weekend performing well for the club.

“It’s recognition of the hard work of everyone at the club, which is nice. But quite honestly it won’t affect anything that we do."

If Saturday's match ends in a draw, the replay will be played a week on Tuesday, November 20 at Marsh Lane (7.45pm).

The club's League Two campaign resumes a week on Saturday, November 17, against Crewe Alexandra at Alexandra Stadium (3pm).