WORCESTER City will be back in the Worcestershire Senior Cup next season after a merger of the county's two flagship competitions.

Worcestershire FA has confirmed the Senior Urn, ran since 1973-74, in will be “retired” as part of changes that came about from consultation with clubs.

READ MORE | Youth product returns to City after end of Walsall scholarship 

READ MORE | Worcester man banned from football for SEVEN YEARS

The Worcestershire Senior Cup will now draw competitors from as far down as non-league football’s sixth tier and return to be a standard knockout contest played during the regular season.

It means the likes of City, Malvern Town and Pershore Town will have the chance to tackle higher-ranked clubs such as Kidderminster Harriers, Bromsgrove Sporting, Alvechurch and Redditch United.

The cup had previously been reserved for clubs playing at the fourth level of non-league football and above and with a limited number of eligible clubs and dipping interest during the cut and thrust of the regular season, it became a pre-season competition in 2015.

In recent times, the Urn has given clubs at steps five and six of the National League System a senior county honour to play for and continued to be a regular season competition.

Explaining the shake-up, Worcestershire FA CEO Nichola Trigg said: “We made the decision after consultation with the clubs.

“They wanted something that ran through the season and with us having a shuffling of teams with various changes it made more sense to have one competition.

“Originally the clubs wanted the Senior Cup to be played in pre-season but when that happened it threw up complications.

“Clubs have to book pre-season friendlies so far in advance and it became increasingly difficult to arrange at that time of year.

“It seemed sensible to return to the regular season and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive, particularly from the senior clubs which was very welcome.”

Trigg confirmed the Urn would be retired and kept by the county association and that it could make a return in the future.

Worcester City became the last winners for now with a penalty shoot-out victory over Studley after a 2-2 draw at Evesham United in April.

“It will be retired but we re-evaluate all of our cups every season so only time will tell,” added Trigg.