Raymond Beach, Heys Wolfe and Omar Butterfield will not take to the field in the big cats? crucial FA Cup quarter-final clash against North Village at the Den on Sunday.

The Cougars trio each refused to undergo a third compulsory drug test last week ? a requirement for all players at the national level ? effectively ruling themselves out of this weekend?s cup clash with the Reds.

The three players are now facing a one year expulsion from international and domestic football after refusing to take a follow-up test after initial tests were deemed ?invalid? by drug testing agency Benedict Associates.

Though no national team player actually failed the drugs test last week, players who refuse to complete the drug testing procedures face a ban unless they can provide a ?reasonable excuse? for failure to show.

The three players, all central to Cougars hopes for success this season, now have less than a week to produce valid excuses for not turning up for their third test and then a further two weeks to submit written appeals to the Bermuda Council for Drug Free Sport (BCDS).

?According to the procedures, these players should not be eligible to play on Sunday. Basically anybody who has incurred a drug infraction is banned from the sport concerned,? explained Jon Beard, chairman of BCDS.

?Therefore they will not be able to play football this Sunday. If they have not been informed by Bermuda Football Association (BFA) at this stage, fine. But once they are informed then they will be unable to play.?

However, at press time last night, Devonshire Recreation Club had yet to receive any official correspondence prohibiting the trio from playing over the weekend from the association.

In fact, Devonshire Recreation Club secretary and BFA committee chairman Ellsworth Christopher maintained that the trio have no case to answer and, as such, remain clear to join their team-mates on the pitch on Sunday. also learned yesterday that Devonshire officials held special talks over the matter on Tuesday night at the club.

?We have not received anything whatsoever,? stated Christopher yesterday. ?And as far as we?re concerned there is nothing to prevent those players from playing football.

?But I can?t really comment on something that isn?t because we haven?t received nothing as of yet.?

There was no word from BFA as their offices were closed for the day due to yesterday?s strong winds.

Meanwhile, scoring sensation Beach has been in a class of his own after returning from suspension in mid-October.

The Premier Division?s leading goalscorer for the past three seasons has netted 19 goals in only ten appearance so far while Wolfe etched his name in the record books last season in becoming the first player ever to score a hat-trick on a losing team in the FA Cup final.

Up until last week?s developments, Butterfield had been enjoying perhaps his best season to date in the big cats defence.