PHC Zebras captain Chris Furbert is expected to make a full recovery ahead of his team's Premier Division encounter with Dandy Town at St. John's Field on Sunday.

Furbert was treated in hospital for lacerations to his head sustained in a fight that occurred outside the popular Splash Night Club in Hamilton during the early hours of last Sunday morning.

"I think Chris is strong enough to pick up the pieces and continue to lead the team like he has been doing all along. Chris says he is ready to return and hopefully he will be available for the weekend," said an optimistic Zebras assistant coach Jack Castle.

Furbert, son of Bermuda Industrial Union (BIU) president Chris Sr., help guide Zebras to a third Martonmere Cup title with victory over defending champions Devonshire Cougars at Somerset Cricket Club last month before being invited to train with the senior national squad ahead of next February's World Cup qualifiers.

Castle described the hustling midfielder as an "integral" part of Zebras' early season success.

"He's definitely been an impact player for us and one of the more consistent players who understands what we are trying to achieve as a team," he said.

Zebras are the only local outfit yet to be beaten in all matches this season, a proud record the Warwick-based club will look to keep intact when they travel to the Barn on Sunday to meet a Hornets side in desperate need of a win in order to keep their Premier's Dudley Eve Cup hopes alive.

"We are definitely looking for points to try and finish off the first- half of the season undefeated," Castle said.

Zebras qualified for the Dudley Eve competition last weekend with a convincing win on the road against Boulevard and with reinforcements on the way in the form of a promising batch of college kids could enter the festive tournament as clear favourites for the $3,000 winner's purse.

Due to return from studies abroad over the Christmas break are forwards Lonnie Bascome and Jason Smith along with national youth team defenders Robert Richardson and Marquel Waldron.

"We already have enough depth to cover a number of positions and players coming to bolster what we already have," Castle said.

Yet in spite of his team's impressive start to the 2007-08 campaign, former PHC defender Castle has urged his troops to keep their feet planted firmly on the ground given there's still much at stake this season.

Zebras currently top the Premier Division by two points over North Village and along with Rams and Somerset Trojans remain in the hunt to become the first local club to lift 10 FA Cup titles.

PHC, Rams and Trojans have won one of local football's crown jewels on nine occasions.

"Every league and cup game is important to us and our aim is to try and do as well as we possibly can in every match we play," Castle said. "Our goal is to take things one game at a time."

Police, meanwhile, have already appealed to anyone who may have witnessed last weekend's altercation outside the Splash Night Club that forced the 36-year-old Furbert to sit out Zebras' previous league encounter with Blazers through injury.