ON the same day that a club from the second tier of English football books a spot in the FA Cup final, Bermuda's First Division side Wolves will be hoping for similar success thousands of miles away.

Giant-killing acts in the world's oldest cup competition have seen three Championship clubs reach the last four of the competition with one of them ¿ Cardiff or Barnsley certain to feature in the May final.

Bermuda's own FA Cup is also at the semi-final stage, with Wolves the lone survivors from the First Division. Still smarting from blowing their promotion bid, the firm underdogs will battle against an in-form PHC side chasing the elusive Triple Crown.

But there will be plenty to inspire Wolves, not least the desire to make up for not securing one of the promotion spots. If that doesn't do it, the First Division side need only look at the achievements of Devonshire Colts last season when they became the first First Division team to win in the final.

Ironically, Colts' reign as champions ended in the quarter-finals at the hands of Wolves when Nathan Webb's lone strike sealed an upset victory. In the last eight years Colts, Hamilton Parish and Prospect have all reached the FA Cup final. Wolves know about reaching the final as a First Division team as they did it in 1997 before losing to Boulevard 3-2 after extra time.

"That (FA) is all we have left, so if we can salvage something from our season it will be well worth it," said Wolves manager Robert Thomas.

"We'll just put our best foot forward and it is about what happens on the day."

Webb is one of the few players remaining from that 1997 team, which Thomas thinks is a good thing because there won't be the extra pressure on the players.

"I remember it but I wasn't with the club at that point," said Thomas.

"That's passed and they're looking forward to what they are going to do right now. It's a whole new group of guys."

Wolves did not get the luck of the draw when they were the first team drawn and found out that they would be going up against PHC, a team with a rich FA cup tradition.

"I'm not disappointed as I would rather have had Boulevard or (Dandy) Town," said Thomas. "They were running hot and cold and if you see how they ended their (league) season you can agree with what I'm saying. Both of them finished with a loss, while PHC's last two games were a loss and a draw.

"This could possibly be our last game (of the season) or it could be two more games," said Thomas. 'Whoever wants it most on the day is going to take it. That's the bottom line."

And he has challenged his players to answer one question: "Do you want to go all the way or what?"

According to Thomas, missing out on promotion was a big disappointment for the club who were in a good position to clinch one of the two spots and return to the top division.

"I told the guys we can't take any team lightly, every team wants to prove a point and beat the top teams," said Thomas who points to the two losses to St. George's and the defeat to Social Club as the turning point for them.

"That's what happens when you are already counting points before you even play the game," he said.

"St. George's beat us twice but the crucial game was Social Club. Our last four games were Social Club, Paget, Prospect and BAA. We beat all those teams handily in the first half of the season so we were expecting to win those games. We were counting our chickens before they hatched. Social Club beat us 3-1 that night. If we had won that game we would have won the league. The whole community is disappointed, playing excellent soccer and then on the last stretch stumbling and falling."

PHC coach Kyle Lightbourne acknowledges Wolves pose a threat and that they won't be taken lightly as they look to add the FA and Friendship to the Martonmere Cup and league titles they have already won.

The BFA decided to break from tradition and schedule both semi-finals for the same day so as not to clash with the Hogges' first home match of the season on April 27. The second semi-final between Boulevard and Dandy Town was originally scheduled for April 20, but putting both matches on Sunday means that the 2007-08 season will now end a week earlier on April 20 with the FA Cup final.

Boulevard and Town will both be hoping to end their disappointing seasons by securing a spot in the final. Town, who last won the cup in 2004, are likely to call on Dandy Town Commercial Division player Darron (Duke) Simons to lend his experience to their front line. He scored twice in the 3-0 win over Lobster Pot in the last round.

Boulevard are aiming for their second straight appearance in the final.

Schedule

Women's FA Cup semi-finals: Somerset Hurricanes v Dandy Stars (Bernard Park 12.30); Lady Rams v Lady Cougars (Somerset 12.30).

Men's FA Cup semi-finals: Wolves v PHC (Somerset 2.30); Boulevard v Dandy Town (Bernard Park 2.30).