If Johnny Nusum had followed up on an initial conversation he had with Desmond Minors at the end of last season, it might have been Robin Hood and not Hamilton Parish crashing out of the FA Cup on Sunday.

Instead the lanky Minors took a delight in showing Nusum's team the exit door in the big cup upset, scoring four times in the 5-1 mauling of the Second Division side.

Yesterday, the 34-year-old disclosed that he came close to joining Nusum at Parish, a move that would have only been possible because of Minors' respect for his former PHC and Spinning Wheel team-mate.

"Before the season kicked off he came to me and invited me to play for them but he just never followed up on it,'' said Minors yesterday. "I respect Johnny for what he did for the team.'' Nusum was reminded of how close he came to signing Minors after the striker netted twice in the first half and two more in the second.

"I told him at half time that I could have been playing for his team if he had followed it up and he just shrugged his shoulders,'' Minors explained.

Back in April, after finishing the 1992-93 season as the Commercial Division's top scorer with 24 goals, Minors told The Royal Gazette how happy he was playing in the Commercial Division with no real desire to return to the First or Second Division. He had played previously in the First Division with PHC and Warwick and was a youngster at PHC when college students Nusum and Dale Russell were the stars.

"He would have been the key mover for me to go to Hamilton Parish,'' Minors says of Nusum's persuasion.

The second conversation never materialised and Minors was happy to stay put with last season's runner-up in Group A.

"I'm very happy with Robin Hood and they know my brand of football, my strength which is crosses,'' he says.

One of the reasons for Minors' switch to the Commercial Division -- he also played there for Forties and Spinning Wheel and was also their top scorer with 26 goals in '88-89 and 22 in '91-92 respectively -- was because of his inability to train regularly because of work in the hotel.

"Taking off nights is money out of the bank,'' is how he feels about it now, especially with a family. He is able to train Monday's with Robin Hood and also does weights and running on his own and the club seems happy with that.

All four of Minors' goals on Sunday came from headers from crosses, with Englishman Ray Morrison being the main supplier.

"Ray is our sparkplug, a superb player who should be playing in the First Division as well,'' Minors says of his team-mate.

"I told him that if I do decide to move up to a higher division I will take him with me. He used to play for Lobster Pot but has been with Robin Hood three seasons.'' Minors, who has set himself a target of 50 goals this season, was not with Hood when they reached the semifinals of the FA Cup in 1990-91 -- in fact his Warwick team was one of their victims -- but there is determination within the club to put together another good run.

They meet fellow Commercial Division team KPMG in the preliminary round next month and have the best chance of the Commercial teams of advancing to the first round when the big boys from the First Division come in.

"Nothing is going to be easy,'' Minors says of the KPMG clash. "We would rather have a Second Division side than one in our own division.'' And should they get by KPMG who would the cup spoilers prefer to meet? "Any Second Division side, because their brand of football is not much superior to the Commercial Division,'' says their top scorer.

"We'll have a good shot with any Second Division side. But it's going to be tougher, the words out now.'' The FA Cup elimination round replay between Island Rangers and Lobster Pot will take place tomorrow night at BAA field starting at 8 p.m.