BIRMINGHAM City Ladies head into the County Cup final on Sunday hoping some of Sunday's bumper 583 gate will return to cheer them on against arch rivals Aston Villa Ladies.

Blues are bidding to win the trophy for a record third successive season after beating the same opponents last year.

The match kicks-off at 2pm at the County FA's Ray Hall Lane headquarters in Great Barr and chairman Steve Shipway hopes to benefit from a knock-on effect from the successful 'Gary Newbon Challenge' which attracted nearly 600 fans to Sunday's 2-0 defeat to Doncaster Belles.

ITV Sports presenter Gary Newbon had bet the club they could not draw a 500 crowd for the game and offered to cough up if they did so.

The club has been busy promoting the challenge and are waiting for a £583 cheque from Newbon after the astounding response.

Chairman Steve Shipway has pledged to spend the winnings on football equipment to be distributed to schools in Redditch and Birmingham and is hoping some of the crowd will return despite watching a 2-0 defeat.

The club will seek advice from Arrow Vale and the Birmingham FA about which schools are most in need of equipment to promote girls' football before distributing it and Blues will benefit from an on-the-day profit of around £800 from the gate receipts.

Defeats for National Division strugglers Everton and Southampton on Sunday restricted the damage for Blues who sit seventh in their debut season in the top flight.

With games in hand, Birmingham need five points from their last four fixtures to be mathematically safe and could end up needing just two points if Everton lose to Southampton at the weekend.

Birmingham will have defender Sarah Dunn in contention on Sunday after she made her comeback for the Reserves, who beat holders Arsenal to win the FA Women's Premier League Reserve Section Cup at the weekend.

Precocious winger Karen Carney also hopes to return after being unavailable at the weekend.