Southampton Rangers will be looking for another good away performance tomorrow when they travel to Somerset Cricket Club to meet the Friendship Trophy champions in the quarter-finals.

West End neighbours Somerset Trojans and Somerset Eagles begin the defence of their Friendship and Shield titles and both face tricky ties as the Trojans come up against a Rangers side fresh off their biggest win of the season — 3-0 away to Hamilton Parish which prevented the Hot Peppers from going top in the Premier Division. Eagles will meet a X-Roads team that shocked First Division leaders Boulevard 1-0, thus knocking them off the top spot.

The Trojans, who beat Parish in last year’s final for their tenth Friendship title, will have to be watchful of their opponents as they put their title on the line. Upbeat Rangers will be confident as they head west.

“We had a great performance against Hamilton Parish last week but we’re striving for greatness and the difference between great and greatness is consistency so we’ll be looking to put together another good performance this weekend against the champions and hopefully get another good result as well,” Maurice Lowe, the Rangers coach, said.

The loss was the first at home for Parish this season and only the second win for Rangers. “We weren’t so much worried about Hamilton Parish but more so our predicament where in our previous two matches we had good performances but didn’t get maximum points,” said Lowe, whose squad is boosted by late transfer signings Teiko Lowe from Boulevard, and Dandy Town pair Errin Simons and Shannon Coddington-Burchall.

“This game was rewarding for all the hard work we’ve done and we’re looking to continue in that same vein. The reason we enter competitions is to win them so we will be giving equal weight to every competition we enter and try to get as far in that competition as possible.

“We picked up some late transfers and also have players returning from school so we’re looking for them to give us a bit of a lift and help create some positive memories.

“We respect Somerset, they definitely have the pedigree in cup competitions, but while we respect them we are also looking for the best possible result for Southampton Rangers.”

Trojans lost their last outing, 2-0 to struggling Flanagan’s Onions, despite their opponents being without the suspended Keston Lewis and Vincent Minors.

Having served their one match bans, both Lewis and Minors will be back for Onions’ clash with neighbours Robin Hood at Goose Gosling Field tomorrow. Like the Trojans, Robin Hood are looking to bounce back from defeat in their last match when PHC beat them 4-2.

PHC travel to Devonshire Rec to meet Cougars after both teams won preliminary round matches recently, with the Zebras beating Hamilton Parish and Cougars edging North Village Rams. Cougars are leading the Premier Division on 16 points while PHC are three points behind in third place in what is shaping up to be an interesting title race.

Dandy Town, the league champions, are still languishing in relegation zone following a home loss last weekend to North Village, their fourth in eight games. They will be hoping to turn things around when St George’s visit St John’s Field. Town lost their season opener to St George’s at Wellington Oval as their struggles in the league began.

St George’s are likely to have new signing Lashun Dill, a former Town player, in their squad, having picked him up during the late transfer period. Dill is one of 39 players who obtained late released in the November 15-30 period and he will add an extra spark to the St George’s attack. Up to recently he has been playing for new Corona League team Butterfield and Vallis, scoring a hat-trick against BAA in the FA Cup preliminary round.

Eagles, the Shield holders, travel to Goose Gosling Field to meet a X-Roads side that knocked Boulevard out of first place in the First Division last weekend when they beat them 1-0 at Police Field, three weeks after losing to the same team in the FA Cup preliminary round.

Devonshire Colts, the new First Division leaders, who lost to Eagles in last season’s final, face Wolves at Devonshire Rec in the pick of the Shield ties between two promotion seeking sides. Wolves are pushing for an immediate return to the Premier Division despite losing 13 players during the summer transfer period, and another eight during the recent late transfer period, including veteran Jared Peniston who has headed back to Dandy Town.

In the other matches Ireland Rangers take on Young Men’s Social Club at Somerset while St David’s meet a resurging BAA side at St John’s Field.

Shield matches start at noon and Friendship matches at 2.30pm.