St Albans City manager Ian Allinson believes his side are capable of causing an FA Cup upset against League Two Carlisle United at Clarence Park on Sunday.

The Saints will have to upset the form guide if they are to overcome their illustrious opponents who are yet to lose a game in the Football League this season.

However, Allinson says City can come away with a famous win despite accepting the odds are stacked firmly against the National League South side.

“You never know and see it year in year out that you have a shock and have an underdog beat a big club. We are certainly going to have a big crowd and if the town and the crowd can get behind us you just don’t know,” he explained.

“We have to grasp [any chances] and believe we are going to do it. As I said on Saturday we certainly go into the game believing we are going to win it.

“It is one of those where you hope on the day that they are not at the level they are week in week out. You hope they slightly take their foot off the pedal and might underestimate what we have.

“It is going to be a massive task.”

The Cumbrians are the only team in the Football League to remain unbeaten this season and have taken 19 points from their last seven league matches.

They stretched their unblemished league run to 15 games on Saturday with a commanding 3-1 victory over Crawley Town.

City will have to be wary of Jason Kennedy and Jabo Ibehre after the duo took their personal goal tallies to seven and five respectively with strikes against Crawley.

Success in the eagerly awaited cup clash would represent the first time St Albans have beaten a league side in the competition since their 5-3 win against Brentford in 1924.

The Saints are vying to become only the sixth side in the club’s 108-year history to reach the second round proper or equivalent in the FA Cup.

Carlisle enjoy a strong recent pedigree in football’s oldest knockout competition, having managed to reach the fifth round of the cup last season.

That run ended with a 3-0 loss to an Everton side which went on to reach the semi-final stage.

United also reached the third round in 2014 but again came unstuck against a Premier League side as they lost 3-1 to Sunderland.

Should St Albans come out on top against Keith Curle’s side, they will be just one win away from a potential third round tie against a Premier League or Championship side.

They gave themselves a further confidence boost on Monday with a 2-1 win over local rivals London Colney in the Herts Senior Cup.

Dipo Akinyemi and Matt Ball got the goals for City while Ashley Morrissey scored for Colney.