Jordan Shipley is 'looking forward' to the Sky Blues clash against Birmingham City at St Andrew’s in the fourth round of the Emirates FA Cup on Saturday afternoon.
With both clubs playing their home fixtures at St Andrew’s this season, Saturday’s match will be a unique occasion for players and fans alike.
The midfielder admits it will be a weird experience when the teams walk out before tomorrow’s game but is relishing the chance to play in front of a sellout crowd.
Shipley said: “It’s a little bit weird, playing at home against Birmingham, which is also their home, it’s going to be a bit different for us and a bit different for them, but it’s going to be a good game.
“It will be a good atmosphere and it’s sold out which is credit to all the fans and we’re looking forward to it.
“Over our careers we’ve all played in front of lots of people so it’s another game that we’re looking forward to going into and hopefully we can get the win.
“It’s nice to play in front of big crowds, you get a little bit nervous before the game, but as soon as the ball gets going, that’s it, you forget about the crowd and just focus on yourself.
“Everyone is trying to get their hands on tickets and it’s very hard to get them, all my friends and family are going to be there so we’re all looking forward to it.”
Birmingham currently sit 18th in the Sky Bet Championship and Shipley believes it will be a good test to see how the Sky Blues compete with a team playing in the division above them.
He also highlighted teen sensation Jude Bellingham as a player to look out for with the 16-year-old enjoying a remarkable breakthrough campaign this season.
“They’re a good team, they’ve got some good young players and some good older players, so it’s going to be a good game and it will show us how far away from the Championship we are.
“Jude is a good player, I’ve seen him play a few times this year and he’s a good athlete but hopefully he doesn’t do anything tomorrow.
“There will be no love lost on the pitch, it will be who wants to win on the day, it will be physical and hopefully we can get through to the next round.
“Our confidence is high from where we are in the league and the cup run, we’ve had so far, everyone is confident and if we play our game, we know we can get a result.
“We definitely want to keep the momentum going, you can feel it in the changing room and when we’re playing with each other on the pitch, everyone is just buzzing for the game tomorrow to get started.”
Shipley scored the Sky Blues winning goal in their last outing away at Doncaster Rovers, finding the net from distance at the Keepmoat Stadium, and is now targeting double figures for the current campaign.
“I’ve always fancied my chances from range, it’s whether someone is in a better position than me, in that moment in time I didn’t think too much of it really because I had space in front of me and it felt a bit like the Sunderland goal from last year.
“It was a good goal, I want to get double figures this season, that’s the target now and I think it’s achievable, hopefully after that I can carry on and see what happens.
“Most of my goals have come in the first half and I’ve never scored two or more goals in a game so that’s another target and then maybe a hat trick, but we’ll see when that comes along!
If I have a shot and it goes in then fair enough, it’s a team game though and if I’m through one-on-one and Matty is next to me I’m going to pass it to him so he can score, it doesn’t really matter who scores as long as we score and we win.”
The 22-year-old celebrated his winner at Doncaster with an old-school aeroplane style celebration and revealed that the idea came about following a chat with Matty Godden.
“The celebration came about from a chat me and Matty had on the Friday and he said if I wanted to do this plane celebration and I said we’ll give it a go.
“I was speaking to Dabo in the tunnel and I asked him if he would do the celebration if we score and he said he’d only do it if you score and when I saw a replay of it, I saw he was weaving in and out from the edge of the box and I was howling at that!”
That goal was Shipley’s seventh in all competitions this season and having featured twice at under-21 level for the Republic of Ireland, briefly touched on his chances of appearing for the senior side.
“I’d love to have an international call-up but it’s whatever Mick McCarthy thinks and I’m just going to keep playing well and see what happens.
“I’ve heard they’ve been watching a few games, but I haven’t really thought about it too much at the moment until that opportunity comes.”