WORCESTER City Women are on the hunt for a famous FA Cup upset this weekend, and CEO Nicole Allison is hoping that a record club attendance will be there to witness it.

City Women (Step 5) face National League (Step 3) side MK Dons Women on Sunday afternoon in the second-round of the Women's FA Cup at Sixways, where they will be hoping to produce a shock to reach the third-round proper.

City have enjoyed a decent cup run so far, winning both of their qualifiers before a comprehensive 5-1 victory at Rotherham United Ladies in the first-round two weeks ago.

That win earned them a glamorous tie with MK Dons, who play two levels higher than City in the women's football pyramid, and Allison is hopeful a big crowd will be attracted to Sixways.

"When we beat Rotherham I was really hoping for a home draw," said Allison . "There were a few teams that were in there that I thought if we were drawn against them, we could reach the third round.

"Drawing MK is one of the hardest draws we could have got but it’s very exciting that a Worcester City team is playing a team like MK Dons at a facility like Sixways, it’s brilliant."

City Women, who run separately from the City men's team, moved to Sixways for the 2023/24 season after playing their football at Claines Lane.

Running a club at this level can be tricky and so boosted attendance at the 11,000-seater stadium have done wonders for the club financially, as has this FA Cup run. They have currently pocketed £13,000 from the competition so far.

"We don’t get any funding from the FA or any governing body at this level, so the FA Cup is huge," added Allison.

"We always have an objective to go one step further than last season and to get to the second round is a big achievement for all involved.

"But the wins for us are crucial, it can cost a lot of money to run three teams, it's not cheap so the prize money really does help us."

But on the pitch, club captain Jess Fassnidge is excited to test herself against higher-level opponents and she is hoping Sunday's game will be the perfect opportunity for her side to "showcase" their ability.

"Sometimes you need to play the better teams to see where you’re at," she said. "That’s the exciting part about this. We want to challenge ourselves against sides like MK Dons.

"Getting a club like them from tier 3 is a great chance for us to showcase what we can do. There is a learning aspect to it, we know we won't dominate the game so we have to learn from it, how will we adapt.

"We want to push for promotion into step 4, so this weekend we want to see how we compare with a side in tier 3."

But both Allison and Fassnidge admitted that Sunday is also a chance for the club to outline the progress being made off the pitch. 

"Sunday is a great chance to showcase what were doing off the pitch too," added Fassnidge. "It will be nice for MK Dons to come to Sixways and see what we are about and see what we’re doing off the pitch as well as on it."

"There has been a lot of fan and media interest leading up to the game," Allison continued. "We are really hoping for a record attendance to showcase ourselves as a great community club and a place to come and enjoy watching football.

"Our attendances are growing and compared to last season it's up 104 percent, we are doing great things off the pitch and we want to show people the steps we have made in that department and hopefully on Sunday, MK Dons can come and see what we are about as a club."