WORCESTER City will be hoping lightning strikes twice tomorrow (Sunday) when they attempt to knock another League One side out of the country’s most prestigious cup competition.
The Blue and Whites make the long trip to Scunthorpe United, bidding to reach the third round of the FA Cup for the first time since they were knocked out by Coventry City back in 1983.
It was the Sky Blues, ironically, who fell victim to Carl Heeley’s giant killers in the first round as a Sean Geddes brace ensured the 3,000 travelling Worcester fans witnessed an historic 2-1 victory at the Ricoh Arena.
The myth of any cup hangover has also been quickly dispelled as City have won all four of their games since their Coventry success, including securing 3-0 triumphs in their last three outings.
Heeley’s side find themselves on an unbeaten run of 13 games, haven’t tasted defeat since September and are within three points of a play-off spot thanks to their recent surge up the table.
They will, however, be hoping the ‘curse’ won’t strike as manager Heeley and star midfielder Geddes scooped the Conference North manager and player of the month awards after an impressive November.
A fully fit squad will be at Heeley’s disposal, with Daniel Nti, Jordan Murphy and George Williams all likely to come back into the squad after being rested in the midweek win at Hyde.
Scunthorpe themselves are on a good run and have only tasted defeat once, a 1-0 reverse against Notts County, since Mark Robins took over in October.
Despite still finding themselves in League One’s bottom four, the Glanford Park outfit have won three out their last four and will be looking to star striker Paddy Madden to improve on his nine-goal tally so far.
Heeley said: “We have got an opportunity to get to the third round of the FA Cup, we have got another tough tie but there are no easy ones when you get to this stage.
“It is away from home, we would have liked to be at home but it is a club that, although they have improved of late, are struggling in League One.
“Okay it is three tiers above us but that hasn’t been an obstacle in the Coventry game and what we achieved at Coventry it shouldn’t hold any fear for us.
“We will go there and express ourselves as we did at Coventry and everything will have to go for us but it is a tie that’s winnable.
“We are under no illusions it is going to be very, very tough. It is a good one to look forward to and one we can be optimistic about.”
Worcester are set to be backed by another raucous following after selling out their entire 2,200 allocation.
A live blog will be available at www.worcesterobserver.co.uk online.