Cup fever grips Lewes as big match looms

The Lewes FC Women's team after their 3-0 win in the previous round of the FA Cup. Photograph: Debbie Adams

For the first time, Lewes FC Women have made it through to the last 16 teams in the FA Cup. And their Fifth Round opponents will be Everton Ladies, previous winners of the SSE Women’s FA Cup and one of the top 10 teams in the country.

But team manager John Donoghue is undaunted by the visitors, commenting: “We will go full throttle and look to win the game.”

Everton Ladies sit eighth out of 10 in the WSL1 but they have recently won back-to-back league games and will be expecting to advance to the FA Cup Quarter Finals.

Sunday’s match kicks off at 2pm at The Dripping Pan, but doors open from 12.30pm with hot food, drinks, children’s activities and entertainments to keep fans warm.

Tickets are just £5 for adults, £3 for concessions and students. All under 16s get in free.

You can pay on the gate or, to save queueing, tickets are also available via the LewesFC.com website until 10am tomorrow (Saturday).

Lewes FC announced in July last year that it had become the first professional or semi-professional football club to pay its women’s team the same as its men’s team,as part of its Equality FC campaign.

In an unprecedented move, Lewes FC said it would establish a sustainable model of funding to support the women’s and men’s football teams on an equal basis.