Rocquaine confident of scalp

ROCQUAINE United are favourites to produce the first big shock of this season's Fletcher Sports FA Cup when they travel to Port Soif to face Rovers this afternoon. Their galaxy of former island and Sylvans stars are expected to put the wind up their struggling Priaulx hosts with gusts predicted to reach gale force nine this weekend.

Colin Renouf's experienced squad, which boasts 13 ex-island players, have not held any training sessions but have had several practice matches since beating Centrals with a last-gasp winner in the previous round.

'I think the FA Cup is a great competition. Some of the magic of the FA Cup is it's not seeded,' he said.

'You always tend to think of the Rovers pitch as wind and rainy - hopefully our side will be experienced enough to deal with it and can put on a good show.'

The likes of Matt Oliver, Martin Gauvain, John Nobes, Jan Renouf, Tony Vance, Adie Exall and Steve Brehaut will fancy their chances of success in the match which starts at 1.30.

'We are hopefully going to give them a good game. If we play well they will have to play well to beat us,' said coach Renouf, who has watched the opposition recently.

'Their workrate is very high and there is a lot of effort that goes in but hopefully with the thought processes and experience we will be able to overcome that.

'Their workrate and pace will cause us problems but hopefully our knowledge and some of our skills will help us out,' he said.

'We have a couple of injury doubts with Kevin Gilligan and Ian Potter, but we expect them to be fit. Unfortunately, Mark Coutanche is away from the island.'

Renouf, who masterminded many of Sylvans' successes in the 90s, believes it will be a close affair.

'We are looking forward to it - it's a game of football where we can all get together again.'

Rocquaine United are aiming to repeat last season's exploits when they reached the quarter-final stage before being knocked out by Vale Rec.

Struggling Rec themselves have an interesting tie this afternoon when Sunday Soccer League second division new boys London House Dogs travel from the Bridge to the Corbet Field for the game which kicks off at 2pm.

FA Cup favourites Bels are mooted to be resting many of their key players but should still be far too strong for second division IAG Business League side Bordeaux Services when they meet at 4pm today at the Track.

Tomorrow, high-flying Sunday Soccer League first division side OCS travel to St Peter's to take on injury-ravaged Sylvans.

Island Landscapes face Rangers at St Andrew's.

In the only tie in which a non-Priaulx League team is guaranteed a quarter-final spot and probable match against one of the big boys, SSL first division leaders Indian Cottage clash with fast-improving league rivals Ounsworth Decor Cosmos.

All tomorrow's games kick off at 1.30pm.

The quarter-final draw is live on radio on Monday morning.