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Paynter: We have nothing to lose

Cup clash: Dejuan Paynter in action for St David's

St. David’s midfielder Dejuan Paynter has played down the importance of their FA Cup semi-final match against Southampton Rangers tomorrow at Bernard Park, admitting the game has only come into his side’s mind this week.Both St. David’s and Rangers were facing the possibility of heading into the final league weekend with their Premier Division status still uncertain.However, they won their respective games and with those below them losing, they were left with nothing to fear.While the two teams now have a semi-final to battle out, Paynter knows things could have been very different if last week’s results didn’t go their way.“It’s a big game but we can’t let ourselves get caught up in the hype surrounding the game,” said Paynter. “It is another game and we have to take all the glamour off of it and play it to its merit.“As a team we need to play together and play for one another and then we should be fine.“Our main goal at the beginning of the season was to stay up. We accomplished that last weekend, which was a huge lift for the whole club and now can focus on making a final.“Winning the game last week was a boost for us knowing we don’t have to wait until after our semi-final match to determine our fate. A few times the FA Cup was brought up and the players stressed the point that it wasn’t an issue until we confirmed our place for next year.“Now that we have, this match becomes our issue and will see how it shapes up.”For Paynter, the term has been a successful one for the club, having survived the drop for the first time in their history.Tomorrow’s winners will go to the National Sports Centre (NSC) to play defending champions Devonshire Cougars.“The FA Cup semi-final and final, should we get there, is a big bonus for us so we are going out with a nothing to lose mentality because if we lose then we weren’t supposed to be here anyway.“If we do make the final then it will be a huge bonus. It has been a successful term in any way you look at it because we stayed up. It’s just a bonus from here on in.“We have played them before, both sides have one win on their home fields, we want to win but it won’t be the end of the world in terms of making it.“We didn’t know that we would make it this far and really didn’t take it seriously due to the bigger picture but now that everything is sorted out this becomes a priority.”Preceding the Men’s FA Cup semi-final will be the Women’s FA Cup semis, with Tuff-E-Nuff playing Extreme at 11 am, while Diamonds will lock horns against Panthers at 12.30 pm.The men’s game is scheduled to kick off at 2.30 pm.Also in action tomorrow are Wolves who host Prospect at –Devonshire Rec., while Hamilton Parish travel to Garrison Field to play X’Roads.