Fans can enjoy a full day of football as City’s Women take on the Royals before Pep Guardiola’s team face West Ham across the bridge later in the afternoon.
The prospect of a larger audience for the Women’s Super League tie – scheduled to kick off at 12:15pm – excites Cushing and the boss believes any newcomers will be hooked on the women’s game.
“With us having a double header, we hope to get more fans in and show that watching our women’s team is as good as watching the men’s. We play the same style of football,” he said.
“Home advantage has always been massive for us because of the stadium we play at and because of the fans that come and watch us. We’ve got unbelievable facilities and an exceptional set of fans that push us over the line when needed.”
“We’ll be the same as the fans in that when our game is done, we’ll head over to the Etihad Stadium and enjoy their performance.”
In terms of the challenges that Reading are likely to pose for his side, Cushing expects the opponents to be difficult to break down.
He said: “They’re a very organised team and they work hard. They’ve built a team which is competitive and definitely good enough to play in this league.
“We’ll have to create lots of chances and make sure to put them away. For us, it’s a case of keep performing the way we have been performing but be aware Reading are a dangerous team.”
“We’ve had plenty of practice of playing against teams who sit deep, make life hard for us and ultimately, try and stop us before they think about taking the game on.”
Unbeaten City are chasing a first Super League title and the pressure on the Blues to seal victory on Sunday to maintain their strong position at the top of the table.
“We know if we put in similar performances, the results will come. We know we’re good enough to win every game we play in – we showed that in the back end of last season and for the majority of this one,” said Cushing.
Ticket details for Sunday’s double header (Season card holders and Cityzens members can go to the Women’s game for free) can be found here…
