Commercial League team MR Onions will face the stiffest challenge in their history when they visit holders Devonshire Colts in the quarter finals of the FA Cup next month.

Onions, surprise winners over fellow Commercial Leaguers Robin Hood last weekend, ended up landing the biggest prize when the teams were pulled out of the hat in the first Cup draw to be carried live on local TV on Wednesday night. The draw in fact teamed them with the winners of the Colts-Cougars replay, which was due to get under way at Devonshire Rec only a little over an hour afterwards, prompting a number of the Onions team to go down and watch their potential opponents.

It was the second time they'd had the opportunity to do so: their match with league leaders Robin Hood had preceded the first Colts-Cougars tie at White Hill Field, which ended 2-2.

"We were pleased to get one of the bigger teams,'' said Onions captain Chris Fleming yesterday. "It gives us a chance to see what we are like against one of the Premier Division's best.'' Onions have come good after a disheartening start to their Commercial League Division One campaign.

They are currently unbeaten in six league matches, with five wins and a draw to their credit, after failing to pick up a single point in their opening five fixtures.

Central defender Fleming explained the turnaround in fortunes.

"I think there were a lot of close games at the beginning of the season,'' he said. "We lost all of them by just one goal. But now we're winning most of the games like that.

"We've only conceded two goals in nine games -- we're not stuffing teams but we're doing much better.'' The improvement might also be down to competition for places in a sizeable Onions outfit.

"We've got quite a big squad so we'll be pretty much trying to give everyone a game in the build up to the match,'' added Fleming.

"Being realistic we're not really expecting to win -- they've got international players like Shannon Burgess who looked really good the other night -- but we will be trying to keep it as close as we can for as long as we can.''