CLAINES Lane will welcome a sell-out crowd for tomorrow's second Worcester Derby of the season.

Worcester City and Worcester Raiders will clash for just the second time in a competitive fixture after City triumphed 1-0 at Sixways in the first back in August.

Thousands were in attendance that day and it will be the biggest crowd for a game at Claines Lane on Tuesday - 1400 capacity - as the two go head-to-head once more in the Hellenic Premier.

City have not played since Tuesday night's Marsh Challenge Cup quarter-final win following the postponement of Friday night's league fixture at local rivals Pershore Town.

But whilst they come into the game fresher than their opponents, Raiders are enjoying an end-of-season revival following what has been a turbulent campaign. Having been a team involved in the title discussion in the early months, the departure of long-term boss Karl Gormley sparked an exodus of players and a run of 12 defeats in their next 22 games saw them fall away and down into mid-table.

But they have enjoyed an end-of-season revival in the last couple of weeks. Raiders have won three of their last four and a big part of their recent success has been down, in the main, to the goals of former City striker, Zaq Hussain. Having started the 2024/24 season with Chris Cornes, Hussain made the move across Worcester and has been in fine form of late, scoring five goals in his last four matches.

He will be keen to return to Claines on Tuesday and dent City's title hopes in what is, quite extraordinarily, Raiders' penultimate game of the season.

Glen Sitch's side only have one game left after the derby on Tuesday, whilst City still have eleven games to play. Part of that is due to their progress in the three cup competitions, but it has also to do with the amount of games that have been postponed.

In the final six weeks of the campaign, City will be squeezing all those league matches in alongside the cup games. City host Emley on Saturday in the Isuzu FA Vase quarter-final and have a two-legged final in the Wiseman Lighting Floodlit Cup to come against Roman Glass St George in March.

But whilst this derby is not going to be a top-of-the-table clash, City will be wary of Raiders coming to Claines with a 'nothing to lose' attitude.

There will be no need for any added incentive for the league leaders, but they can set a new club record of consecutive victories if they beat their rivals. A 15th straight win in all competitions would beat the previous record set back in 1976/77.

City team news: the hosts will be without defender Kirk Layton as he sits out the third of his three-match suspension following his red card against Longlevens. Striker Jamie Insall remains a doubt after injuring his foot during the FA Vase win at Stourport Swifts last month.