IN just three days’ time Worcester City’s FA Cup clash against Coventry City will be the centre of attention.

The talking can stop and the near-decade wait for their moment in the spotlight will be over as all eyes focus on the Ricoh Arena.

It will be an experience like nothing Carl Heeley’s Blue and Whites have encountered before, with up to 10,000 expected to be in the stadium for the first round proper fixture, not to mention the BBC television audience.

It will be a far cry from the average gates of just over 500 they are used to playing in front of at Aggborough every other week.

Sunday’s game is about as far from normal as it is possible to get from a Worcester perspective.

Yet, captain Ellis Deeney knows his team-mates have to treat it as they would any other fixture and not allow themselves to get caught up in the moment.

Enjoy it, yes, but believe in their own ability, too.

Manager Heeley, assistant Matt Gardiner and coach John Snape have developed City into an attractive team to watch and it is that style Deeney wants them to impose on a Sky Blues side with just two wins from their last 10 matches.

The City skipper said: “I will be trying to keep them calm, make sure they don’t let the occasion overwhelm them and let them know it’s just a normal game of football and to treat it like that.

“They’ve got 11 men, we’ve got 11 men and we’ve just got to play our football. If we do that, I think we’ll do well.

“Coventry will come out and want to play so we’ve got to make sure that we do the same thing and get on the ball and play ourselves, as long as we shore up at the back and make sure we’re good defensively.

“We’re going to be as professional as we can, enjoy it on the day and see what happens.”

Deeney is now in his fourth season with City but the last 12 months have seen him transformed from a left-back into a central midfield linchpin, with a series of stand-out performances.

Leading the team out on Sunday will be the latest chapter in that development but the 23-year-old is no stranger to such occasions.

He was captain when Aston Villa reached the FA Youth Cup final in 2010, losing 3-2 on aggregate to Chelsea. Yet, he admits the Coventry match will top even that in terms of prestige.

Deeney said: “At Villa, it was youth team football but definitely still one of the peaks of everything I’ve done so far in football, although I haven’t done a lot.

“But this will be the real peak because it’s the first round proper of the FA Cup and it’s first-team football.”