Why Amy Merricks has her eyes on the prize as Birmingham City face Hull City in the Women’s FA Cup | OneFootball

Barclays Womens Championship – Birmingham City v Sunderland – St Andrews

Birmingham, England, September 8th 2024: Birmingham City head coach Amy Merricks at full time of the Barclays Womens Championship football match between Birmingham City and Sunderland at St Andrews in Birmingham, England (Natalie Mincher/SPP)

Birmingham City are currently second in WSL2 – and as they go into their Women’s FA Cup fourth-round tie against Hull City this weekend, head coach Amy Merricks says they are aiming to win every single competition they’re in.

“It’s a very special competition for us, given the history that we have in it,” Merricks said in a press conference on Friday morning. “We’ve spoken as a group, we want to win it. We want to win every competition we’re in, but we recognise how important this competition is for the club and also as a country.

“So we’ve spoken a bit about it this week, especially for some of those new players as well that have come across from other countries to give them an understanding of not just our history, but the country and the English competition and what it means.

“And we’re really hungry to get going. It’s been a while since we’ve played. So our full focus is on getting to the next round and putting in a real professional performance.”

Amy Merricks: We are fully prepared to face Hull City

Hull City are currently midtable in the FA Women’s National League Northern Premier, a tier below WSL2, and Merricks says her team are well prepared for going in as the favourites.

“We’ve been working really hard. We really want to show our character and energy that we have for this half of the season with the performance that we’re about to put in. Hull will be very organised, I have no doubt. They will also want to try and cause an upset and we have to focus on what we can control and that’s our performance.

“We’re passionate about getting to the next round. We have a desire to go the whole way. So we want to put our best foot forwards and make sure that we showcase how hungry we are in this competition.”

She told SheKicks.net: “We prep thoroughly. I’m a bit obsessed with detail, unfortunately, so I’m a perfectionist.

“We’ve got some good tier 3 contacts. We know quite a lot about Hull. We’ve done our homework. We don’t take any opposition, any game for granted. We know we’re going to have to work incredibly hard. We have to travel to them.

“But we really want to hit the ground running. So our full focus [is] on the performance and showcasing our desire in this competition.”