North Village Rams could not have asked for a tougher opponent when they were drawn against Premier Division leaders Dandy Town Hornets for the first round of the FA Cup this weekend.

Sunday’s match at St John’s Field features first against third in the league, and gets top billing among the eight matches as the Rams bid to end Town’s two-year reign as champions, and boost their own hopes of silverware this season.

“It’s the luck of the draw and from my experience I’ve never been handed a dream draw,” Richard Todd, the North Village coach, said. “Once it comes out you just prepare for whatever opposition you are going to face.”

The teams last met on December 20 in a make-up league match which Town won 1-0 at Bernard Park.

“It was a good match, we had several chances before they scored late in the game,” Todd said. “We had several chances that we didn’t take, so I expect it will be a top match with both teams trying to play and it should be an exciting one for the fans.

“Sometimes playing against strong competition brings the best out of you, and hopefully it has the effect that my players know they have to be up and ready for it. From our perspective, we’re not going to chance anything in terms of how we’re preparing.

“We are very much focused on showing improvement in our game so I won’t place any added pressure on them for the cup fixture, just to go and prepare like it is any other match and just concentrate on our game.”

Village will make back-to-back trips to St John’s Field as next weekend they return for their corresponding league fixture, a match that could have a huge bearing on both teams’ title aspirations. Town had their lead cut to six points after their defeat last weekend to Robin Hood as Village climbed to third.

They will be hoping Town are a little “wobbly” after that first home loss of the season.

“While Dandy Town are a strong team we do believe we are a threat to any team we play, so they will have to be equally concerned about North Village,” Todd said. “It could go either way, I know Jomar [Wilkinson] will be looking for a reaction from his players and he said that in his comments last week, ‘it’s not how you fall but how you get back up’.

“Teams have shown already that Dandy Town can be beaten so we just need to play to our strengths and if we execute properly then we can get the result we’re looking for.”

Two victories against Village would keep Town well on course for a league and cup double, but Village, led by captain Keishen Bean, have a proud cup record, having won the competition nine times compared to Town’s five.

“Keishen started off very hot, coming off the back of the World Cup campaign and benefited from all that training,” Todd said. “In the first five games he had five goals from four starts.

“We expect the same consistency level from him, playing in a more attacking role. We also have Keston [Lewis], Jason Lee and Pierre [Smith] who has scored two in the last two matches.”

Todd added: “We’re building but Dandy Town have the advantage of being a fairly set unit over the past few years. Jomar is the longest-serving head coach in the Premier Division and is also the most successful with their recent history.”

Town have won the cup three times in the last four years, in 2012 and 2014 when they beat Village 5-2 and 1-0 in the finals, before retaining their title last season against Flanagan’s Onions. Village’s last win came ten years ago when they beat Town 4-1 in extra time in the 2005-06 final.

“The emphasis for us is to show an improvement this season over last season but there are always people at clubs like North Village who want success where, if you have been starved for a few years, there could be that added pressure.” Todd explained.

“Fans will be fans and always want to see the best result for their team. This project that we have is bigger than this one match or this one season, it’s about getting us moving back in the right direction and I think we’re making good strides.”