The BFA confirmed yesterday that the starting time is 3.00 and not 2.30 as previously announced, with the Crystal Palace final between Devonshire Colts and North Village scheduled to start at 12.30.

After being beaten by Town a week ago in the Friendship Trophy final, one wonders if the Portuguese club will have much to offer. It was a match Town never looked like losing.

Now with an unprecedented fourth major title within their grasp -- they have already won the Dudley Eve, League and Friendship Trophy -- the St. John's Road team has so much going for them that even the loss of their main goalkeeper Cymande Davis is not expected to hurt them.

With veteran Anthony (Porky) Manders stepping in to fill the void left by young Davis, both coach Mark Trott and skipper Lloyd Christopher firmly believe that the goalkeeping duties remain in good hands.

"With Porky filling in we should be just as strong, it will make no difference. He has been training all this time and I know that he will be up for this game,'' asserted Christopher.

Both Christopher and Manders were denied an opportunity to represent Dandy Town in a FA Cup final in 1992 when both were off the island and now they are relishing the chance to make up for that setback.

"I remember it clearly, it's easy to see why both of us will be looking forward to this one,'' said Christopher.

But Dandy Town are not about to take their opponents for granted, even though they looked the sharper of the two teams a week ago when the Vasco attack was shut down by their defence.

They are remindful of their last two appearances in this particular final which ended in defeats. They went down 2-0 to Somerset Trojans in 1990 and 2-0 against PHC in 1992.

"We must not think about winning the trophy until it actually happens,'' said Christopher. "We must remain focused on the task at hand.'' Trott added: "It's a cup game and anything can happen. As long as we are prepared properly and play up to our standard and do things that we do best we should be okay.'' Vasco may be troubled by the fact that they have to fill a huge gap in midfield left by Karl Roberts who, like Davis, is on duty with the Regiment.

Coach John Rebello reckons that the task will either go to Albert Wolffe or Gary Ray, both of whom came on as second-half replacements in the Friendsthip final.

Also of concern for Vasco has to be the situation with another midfielder, Voorhees Astwood, who sprained a toe on Sunday and is a doubtful starter. It could be that both Wolffe and Ray may be pencilled into the starting line-up.

Vasco, whose last appearance in the final was a 2-1 defeat against North Village in 1986, are welcoming another shot at Dandy Town after failing to accomplish much a week ago. But both Rebello and skipper Paul Towlson know that it's going to take more than fight and determination to gain the edge over their skilfull and speedier opponents.

"They are a great team. In order to beat them we have to do a lot of what we did last week as far as defending is concerned. It was just that they got on top of us with that early goal,'' said the coach.

"We've got to get our midfielders more involved this time, just holding down Town's attack is not the answer because we need to get the goals. We must get our midfielders to support Irving Burgess and Ricky Mallory in order to get them in the swing of scoring again.'' Towlson agreed and added: "We've simply got to get the ball to our forwards more often than we did in the Friendship final. But we must not forget the fact that they are a very fit team who move the ball about a lot. We definitely have to watch them closely and prevent them from scoring early once again.'' If Burgess and Mallory are more prominent up front this time, Vaso may indeed cause Town great difficulty.

The final Second Division match of the season will be played this afternoon when Social Club meet Hamilton Parish at PHC Stadium at 3.00.

DANGER MAN -- Walter Musson, whose goal last weekend secured the Friendship Trophy for Dandy Town, will again be a key man in their attack as they take on Vasco in the prestigious FA Cup final.