In a bid to salvage some pride after winning four of six trophies last season North Village Rams will tomorrow strive to produce the highest standard of play possible in their last hope for a championship when they attempt to successfully defend their FA Cup title in the quarter-final against St. George’s Colts at Bernard Park.

In what turned out to be something of a humiliating defeat to Cougars last Sunday, Rams handed their Premier Division title over to their opponents after a decisive and near-humiliating 3-0 setback at The Den, but Rams’ coach Dwayne (Streaker) Adams is confident that his squad will bounce back in the true style of champions.

Although the odds weigh heavily against their First Division opponents St. George’s Colts causing Rams much concern, inspired minnows have been known to cause upsets in FA Cup matches, which is why Adams is insisting that his team approach this match-up as if their opponents were a powerhouse.

And, naturally to say, the coach of the Rams is also hoping that they will play to their capabilities — unlike in their recent setback to Cougars when they paid dearly for a lacklustre performance and were run into the ground.

“We have to pick ourselves up after the loss to Cougars, we have to show what we are all about. Last weekend we didn’t show it but this is another opportunity for us to win another cup, one that is major in local football,” said Adams.

“Losing the league title in that final game a week ago was a disappointment, but when you look at our record we haven’t had a bad season although we haven’t won anything to date. But we realise it would be hard to duplicate last year’s form when we set a high standard, winning four of six trophies was quite an achievement,” said the second-term coach.

While reckoning that any team would find winning four or more trophies twice in consecutive years a tough task, Adams admitted he felt that Rams were capable of doing nearly or just as well again this year, but a slow start to the season cost them dear.

Still he believes that if they are able to defend the FA Cup, the season could be viewed as quite a success since they have been able to reach two semi-finals and finish second in the Premier Division race.

In the previous FA Cup round Rams were forced to sweat it out against First Division side X Roads, edging through 2-0 with goals by Jemeiko Jennings and Shane Hollis so it’s a good bet they will not be taking anything for granted against the East Enders tomorrow.

In the previous round St. George’s drew against Premier Division side Paget Lions before managing an upset win in the replay and it remains to be seen what momentum they will carry going up against the champions.

In what could be the game of the day new Premier League champions Devonshire Cougars travel to the West End to tackle Somerset Trojans.

The teams are coming off constrasting performances, Cougars scoring a sparkling win over the Rams while the Trojans were held to an embarrassing 1-1 draw against last-place St. David’s Warriors last Tuesday night at BAA field. Based on these two more recent performances the visiting Cougars are slight favourites.

Another close result should occur at BAA field where Boulevard Blazers take on PHC, just a week after the two teams battled to a 2-2 draw in a league fixture.

The draw enabled the Blazers to secure third place in the tables in a match-up in which they threatened to blow their opponents away after taking a comfortable two-goal lead at the half. But known for their ability to fight right through to the final whistle, Zebras came from behind to grab a point.

The remaining game is an all-First Division battle between newly crowned champions Devonshire Colts and Prospect United, who will finish off the season in the lower half of the table.

United were trounced 8-1 by Colts on Tuesday night at the National Sports Centre and the latter are expected to come out of this contest with another decisive win to move on to the semi-finals.