The return of the FA WSL Continental Tyres Cup sees FA WSL 2 side Oxford travel to Solihull on Tuesday 11th October (kick-off 7.45pm) for a clash with FA WSL 1’s Birmingham City.
United have had a good start to the FA WSL 2 season and are currently second, while Birmingham are sitting in mid-table in FA WSL 1
Oxford are unbeaten in the league this season with two wins and a draw from their opening three games of the season. The 2-2 draw with Millwall on Sunday saw the U's drop to second in the table, level on points with Millwall Lionesses.
Birmingham needed a 94th-minute goal to snatch a late point against Reading at the weekend. The Blues have won one, lost one and drawn one from their three games this season and are currently fifth in FA WSL 1.
The last three meetings between the two sides have all come in the Continental Tyres Cup, with Birmingham coming out on top in all three clashes.
Kayleigh Hines was United's saviour on Sunday, scoring a stoppage-time equaliser as she brilliantly curled a free-kick into the top corner. It was her second goal of the season, both direct from free-kicks, and maintained Oxford’s unbeaten start to the campaign.
If the U's are to get anything from this Continental Tyres Cup clash then they will hope Hines has her scoring boots on.
Oxford United goalkeeper Demi Lambourne said:
“We’re looking forward to testing ourselves against Birmingham.
“We played them during pre-season and we put in a good performance so hopefully we can step on from that as well, go out and maybe grab something from the game.
“We were the underdogs against Doncaster, but in the past we’d let four or five goals in against these teams and now we can compete against the top teams in our league.
“Why not go and compete against teams in the other league?
“We just want to go into the Continental Tyres Cup and prove a point how far we’ve come this season and show that we can perform at the top levels.
“The season so far has shown how far we've come and how well Andy [Cook] has got the group playing – he’s done some hard work behind the scenes to get the team together.”