SOUTHEND United manager Phil Brown cannot wait to take on his former Hull City side in the fourth round of the FA Cup later this month.

The Premier League side will be heading to Roots Hall on the weekend of January 25 after the Shrimpers thrashed Millwall 4-1 in the third round of the competition on Saturday.

And Brown, who spent four successful years in charge of the Tigers, believes the tie is typical of the FA Cup.

“You couldn’t write the script, it really is what the FA Cup is all about,” said Brown.

“I am looking forward to the game, but I won’t be thinking about it at all until the week before when we’ve played Plymouth Argyle and Chesterfield in the league.

“It’s a great draw for me personally coming up against Hull, but also for the players to test themselves against a Premier League side.

“We’ve beaten two teams from our division, two good teams, and then convincingly beaten a Championship side, so we deserve a crack at Hull.

“One of my ambitions when I arrived at Southend United was to fill the stadium and I think we can do that against Hull especially with the performance against Millwall and hopefully two good performances against Plymouth and Chesterfield."

Brown led Hull to promotion in to the Premier League during his time at the KC Stadium and is now relishing taking on the current team, managed by Steve Bruce.

The Tigers are currently 10th in the Premier League and won 2-0 at Championship club Middlesbrough at the weekend.

But Brown is glad to at least have home advantage.

“It’s nice to have the draw at Roots Hall,” said Brown.

“If we’re going to try and go further in this competition, I felt it was important we were at home.

“I know Steve Bruce very well, we get on and he’s got a good team together so it’ll be a cracking FA Cup tie.

“But the players need to stay focused on the two games in the league before thinking about playing against Hull.”