One of the youngest Tractor Girls certainly stepped up a gear for Sheehan’s side in round four.
The star of January’s 4-1 win at Huddersfield was 16-year-old forward Maddie Biggs, who struck a first-half hat-trick to help Ipswich reach the fifth round for the first time.
“I’m delighted for her,” Sheehan added. “She’s such a strong centre forward. She’s really bullish, she’s quick, she can head it, she can pin defenders, she can run off the shoulder.
“She’s got a bit of everything really. When she’s got the bit between her teeth, she can be unplayable, for someone so young.
“I sensed in the week building up to the game at Huddersfield that she had that bit of an edge. I remember saying in the hotel the night before that ‘she could score a hat-trick tomorrow’.
“Now we’re looking forward to letting her loose on Sunday.”
Ipswich are one of only two sides remaining in the cup from outside the top two divisions, along with Sunderland, from tier three.
And everybody at the club seems to have been buying in to their project, including men’s team manager Paul Lambert.
“That’s been the case since day one. Paul Lambert has been out watching us and supporting us since the start of the season. I think he’ll be at the game on Sunday,” Sheehan continued.
“We know key personnel at the football club are so supportive of what we’re doing. We’ve had men’s first-team players watch us on Sundays and the support from the fans has been magnificent.”
About 400 fans, possibly more, are expected to travel north to support the Suffolk club at the Academy Stadium, where they will take on a City side including the likes of Steph Houghton, Jill Scott and Ellen White, who beat West Ham United 3-0 at Wembley in last season’s final and are one point clear at the top of the WSL.