Ipswich Town Women face Peterborough Northern Star in the second qualifying round of the Vitality Women’s FA Cup at the Goldstar Ground, Felixstowe on Sunday afternoon (KO 2pm).
Last season the Tractor Girls, currently top of FAWNL South East Division One with a 100 per cent record and still to concede, reached the fifth round of the competition before being beaten away by Manchester City - who play Everton in the delayed final later this month - the first time a fourth tier club had done so and the first time the club had progressed so far in their history.
Peterborough Northern Star are currently second in the Eastern Region Women's Football League Premier Division, the fifth tier. They beat Southend United 10-0 at home in their first qualifying round fixture.
Manager Joe Sheehan is hoping to emulate last year’s run which saw the Blues become a national news story.
"Really looking forward to it but obviously a long way to go to reach the rounds we did last year,” he said.
"We want to try and progress as far as we can. We’re trying to build a whole football club and the better we do in national competitions, the more it helps what we’re trying to grow.
"It’ll be exciting if we can get close to where we did last year, but it’s a long way to go yet.”
Is the target trying to go one better than last year and make the quarter-finals? "Yes, we’ll try and go as far as we can, but we recognise that there’s a lot of football to be played and with there being one-off games against teams that we don’t usually come across it’ll be a tough ask. But it’s a challenge we’ll embrace.”
The attendance for Sunday’s fixture is capped at 400 with admission on a first-come, first-served basis.
Meanwhile, the league game at Kent Football United on Sunday 25th October has been postponed due to international call ups.
Anna Grey, Eloise King, Abbie Lafayette, Paige Peake and Sophie Peskett will all be with the England U19s squad at St George’s Park next week, while Maddie Biggs and Lucy O’Brien will join them having been named in the the U18s.